Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Izuku pushed through the thinned branches in the bushes at the end of the extensive garden, he was beginning to think he should perhaps pick a different entry point lest the Todoroki’s or their house keepers notice the small human size gap. After all, if they saw the hole becoming too prominent then they might install a proper fence and then where will he go to watch people with fire quirks train. Izuku frowned at the thought, because what Endeavour did was not training, it was most definitely abuse. But Izuku needed to see how people train fire quirks or he will never be able to use his own.

As he stumbled through the rock garden trying not to dislodge anything he came to a screeching halt. In front of him, peering through the windows, just like he usually does, was a white haired boy. He looked to be a teenager, probably 13 or 14 Izuku guessed from his height, dressed in dirty white scrubs from a hospital it seemed. But the sleeves and ends were ragged, burnt and torn. Izuku took another step, this time the crisp wintery leaves crunching under his worn shoes.

The boy snapped his head to the side peering over his shoulder, eyes narrowed suspiciously. Izuku held up his hands in surrender, taking in the scar tissue very briefly, trying to stay focused on the piercing turquoise eyes staring at him.

“Umm hi… I- umm I don’t live here, I just sneak in to w-watch them train” he whispered with the friendliest small smile he could muster “Well, they don’t really train, the big guy just bullies and beats the little… kid” he faltered at the end when he saw the teen twitch, an angry flare tinging his eyes.

‘Change the subject Izuku…’ “Do you live near here?” He noticed the other boy frown, seeming sad so he continued “…I’m homeless… b-but I’ve got a pretty good set up in an old warehouse, its not too far… if you want to come? I’ve got some blankets and some food… if-“ he stopped mumbling as the boy turned and looked though the window again.

“Nothing changed, its still all about training Sh- him and not me” he sighed “They… left me behind” Izuku was puzzled, watching the boy move around the side of the mansion to look through a different window “I just wanted them… him… to see me, to see I’m not just a failure… but I’m just a thing from the past.”

Izuku caught up and bit back a gasp as he stared through the window at what the boy was looking at. Inside the room was a memorial shrine set up for what looked to be the same boy standing right next to him. But obviously a few years younger and without the scarring. He really wasn’t sure what he should do, it didn’t seem like encouraging him to go in would be a good idea, especially knowing what happens in there. And the boy seemed to be struggling with remorse, rage, god knows what else.

Steadying himself with a deep breath, he spoke was gently as he could “Will you come with me? Its starting to get cold, you can tell me anything and I’ll listen… you can help me, you…” Izuku struggled to find the right words to tell the other boy that he’s not a failure, he can have a new purpose, they can help each other thrive “We can survive together… You’re not a failure to me… You’re strong… I see you…”

This seemed to rouse the boy from his deep spiralling thoughts, he turned again to look at Izuku and with a small frown, gave a little nod.

After quietly exiting the garden the two young boys ambled down the path towards the edge of the commercial zone where the old warehouse was. To start with it was quiet, Izuku took in the boy’s shoeless feet, worrying about how cold he must be.

“My name is Izuku… I-“ he stopped himself from going any further, looking at the floor

“Why are you homeless Izuku?” The boy replied, never giving out his name. Izuku wondered if perhaps he needed to earn his trust, gain the name as an honoured achievement. But the question made his stomach ache.

“Uh… quirk accident killed my family. I was… presumed dead…” There was significantly more to it then that but he felt like keeping his secrets if the other boy was keeping his name.

“Sorry” the boy mumbled. After a few more minutes he continued “How long have you been on the streets?”

“A year… its- well… its complicated I guess. How old are you Yukichan?”

The boy stopped, mild shock on his face “Yukichan?”

“Ah s-sorry!! I just didn’t know what to call you and your hair is l-like snow, I’m sorry” Izuku ducked down into a bow. He didn’t want to upset the other boy and he already seemed quite cold and distant but at this point, he was desperate. Its the first person he’s really tried to make friends with since the accident and damn, if he wasn’t lonely. Nine year old boys shouldn’t really be out on the streets all alone. Especially not heading into winter.

The other boy hummed a little “Kajichan would be more appropriate”

Izuku hopped up, a bright excited look in his eyes “Do you have a fire quirk too!”

The boy rolled his eyes starting up walking again “Don’t tell me that you didn’t notice my scars… my voice… my…” he faded off what he was saying so Izuku took over.

“Well I didn’t know if it was an accident, like…” Izuku shook his head, warding off the bad memories bubbling to the surface “I have a fire quirk but… I can’t… I don’t…” the other boy seemed to notice his breathing picking up, the tears brimming his eyes and gently patted him on the shoulder.

“So how far to the building?” 

Izuku appreciated the save “Oh! Its only another 10 minutes or so, are your feet ok?”

“Its fine, I don’t seem to feel much pain anymore”

“Well that’s pretty lucky because damn it can get kind of cold overnight” the green haired boy chuckled with a sort of nervous sadness.

After another 10 minutes of very limited conversation, the boys finally came to their target. A grim, square building, surrounded by fences and condemned signs. It was two stories high, the front top right corner seemed to have completely collapsed, rubble and rebar in a crumpled mess. Izuku made some bad joke about it being homely as he scooted down the side between the fence and the neighbouring boarded up building. Just before they reached the back corner, with an alley running along the back, Izuku pulled up to a quickly, the other boy almost bumping into him. He knelt down unclipping the fence along the bottom of the posts, pulling the wire and bending it outwards so he could squeeze though.

“Sorry it’s not a very big gap” he mumbled, looking around defensively. He didn’t like sneaking around, there were a few… unsavoury people around at night so the quicker and quieter they were, the better. 

But luckily the white haired boy scrambled through, winching once at the metal catching on his neck and scratching a little. “Shit… I’m not as much of a midget as you”

“Hey!” Izuku whisper shouted making the other boy snort a tiny laugh, something which Izuku was immensely happy about. “Come on we need to hurry up. Don’t want to be seen” he looked around suspiciously “I’ve got a first aid kit inside.”

Izuku fixed up the fence and moved some pallets that were leant against the wall to the side, revealing a metal vent “I’ll go in, unlock and open this window to the left here. Move the pallet back in front of the vent once I’m in ok?”

The teen nodded and watched as the little boy ducked inside, closing the vent and moving the pallets back the way they were. It was barely a couple of minutes later when he heard a small click and the window slid open. Once the teen hopped through, the teen took in the barren room, the street lights outside were the only illumination, making it seem even colder. Izuku leant past his friend and closed up he window, pushing a plank of wood in front of it, then he turned around, hands on hips and proudly announced “Mi Casa Es Su Casa!” 

The teen chuckled again “Umm… its…”

“That means my house is your house, my mamma used to say it when friends visited when I was really little” the young bright smile wilted a little, but the other boy didn’t mention it. Izuku turned and motioned for him to follow. 

They went through the dingy concrete room up some very unsafe looking metal stairs to a landing at the top, an ominous orangey glow from the street light brighter than down stairs highlighted just what kind of condition the place was in. To the right at the top was a door barricaded shut with some broken up concrete “That’s the room at the front where all the roof caved in so uh… don’t go near there. I tried to block up the door to stop drafts coming in. When it’s stormy the wind whistles a lot but it’s still warmer up here than it is downstairs.” 

He then pushed open one of the two doors on the left, stepping inside “This is where I sleep, there’s only the one small window and its small so it helps keep warm overnight.” The room was essentially a large storage cupboard, it was only light by moonlight streaming through the end window. All the fittings for the shelves were still attached to the walls but the actual shelves had been removed. The room itself was probably only about 6ft wide, maybe 10ft long, down at the end opposite the door was the small 3ft by 3ft window. Against one wall on the floor was a bed fashioned out of several blankets, one rolled at the top to function as a pillow. Izuku reached down pulling back the blankets to reveal a mass of ripped up padding “I pulled out all of the foamy stuff from inside the office chairs from the meeting room and the lunch room to kind of make a bed, we can spread it out and share it Kajichan” he let out his blinding smile again.

“That’s… thank you Izuku. That’s really smart.”

Izuku noticed the teen seemed to be struggling with what to say so he carried on with his little guided tour. “Come on I’ll show you the other room. I’m not sure why but this place still has water, its obviously a mistake so I’ve been collecting empty bottles so I can store water just in case” 

Izuku left the room and went into the one next door, this one was a lunch room with a small kitchenette against the left side, windows along the right. Like Izuku had said, the chairs had been stripped of fabric and cushioning except one that was up against the table. The kitchen was really just a sink and cupboards, the appliances were all gone, some of the plug sockets even destroyed with hazardous looking wires poking out. “Umm so I don’t really have much in here but I’ve got” he reached up to the top cupboard, sticking his tongue out as he pushed up on his tip toes “-some soap and-“

“Why do you put it in the top when you’re so tiny” Kajichan smirked making the smaller boy pout

“Well… I don’t know, it felt safer like it wouldn’t get stolen if someone got in while I was out y’know?” Izuku grumbled, still looking a little pouty “A-ny-way… so this is where we have water for drinking and washing… its cold but its better than nothing. I’ve got some more clothes in the cupboard too, something should fit you. And here-” he pulled down a small plastic bag with a tube of antiseptic cream, a few plasters and steristrips “Let me clean that up”

Izuku silently went and washed his hands, returning and smoothing some cream on the scrapes and using one of the plasters. “I’m afraid I don’t have any lollipops for my patients these days” he giggled trying to keep the mood light, mimicking the drs he had seen when he was younger “But…”

He then turned and walked to the far corner, moving a broken chair out of the way, then moving the wooden boards aside to reveal a white plastic carrier bag hidden behind them. “I don’t have a lot…” he said as he tipped the contents onto the table “But you know, when you’re hungry… you’ll eat anything really.”

On the table was now an open packet of chips, most of a bread roll, half a plastic wrapped onigiri and an almost empty bottle of orange juice. Izuku looked up to see the other boy just staring at it frowning “I- I’m sorry… I-“

“Izuku… how old are you?”

“I’m nine”

“Why aren’t you with other family or friends… or in foster care or an orphanage or someth-”

“What’s your name? I'm not talking until you tell me your name.”

The other boy frowned and grabbed the bread roll, breaking it in half and handing some to Izuku “My name… was Touya Todoroki”

Chapter Text

The two boys talked while they ate their food, Izuku recounting how his quirk manifested overnight and trapped him in an inhuman state, unable to break free or talk to anyone as his apartment burnt down, leaving him without a family or a home, Touya explained how he had been desperate to impress his father, but while waiting for him to show up became emotional and lost control, his quirk going hotter and wilder than he could handle, then he woke up in a hospital and three years had passed. He said that the people were weird and wanting to use him for something, trying to force him to stay and train, so he ran away, ran back to his family and that’s when Izuku found him. He couldn’t go back to his old life, Touya was dead but Izuku, with a gentle touch to his knee said he was in the same position. So they could be lost together, he and Izuku would never have to be alone again.

That night, the pair curled up side by side on the lumpy blankets, huddled together for warmth. Touy- no, Kajichan watched as Izuku drifted to sleep, peering behind himself at the moon out of the window, wondering if this was it or if things would get better. He hadn’t gone into all of the details with Izuku, about what it was like growing up and training with Endeavor. Being pushed beyond what he could handle but still being believed in… until his brother came along. When Shouto’s quirk came in, suddenly his quirk wasn’t what the world needed, wasn’t what Endeavor wanted, it was Shouto’s quirk instead. So he would push himself, harder and harder, burning himself over and over in a desperate bid to be seen, to be wanted, to be promised the world. But that world was just his father’s world and it didn’t matter who he made into his legacy, so long as they were a Todoroki and they had the best, perfect quirk. His perfect creation. Touya wasn’t that perfect creation, despite eventually making his flames hotter than anyones, it wasn’t enough, he was a failure in his father’s eyes. And once he was out of the way, he was forgotten completely. It left a bitter taste in his mouth, rage bubbling to the surface. Kajichan could feel himself burning with anger. He would get his quirk working again, damn his body, he will make it work and then he’ll show him, he’ll show-

He was pulled from spiralling madness by a gentle whimper next to him, turning back over to Izuku he saw a deep furrowed brow. The tiny quiet sobs pulled him in, making all that vengeful fury seep out of his bones as he stared at small tear stained cheeks. He felt so bad for the little kid, he was so small. When Izuku had said he was nine, he honestly thought he was lying but really he’s probably malnourished, maybe genetically pre-dispositioned to be short. But he’s been by himself on the streets, half starving for a month, alone without anyone for 11 months before that and he probably wouldn’t have survived for that long if he hadn’t been trapped in his quirk form.

He reached over and gently brushed his fingers through the boy’s long wavy hair. It was surprisingly soft and the colour matched his eyes “I’m going to make sure you survive, you won’t be alone again” he whispered. 

Once Izuku’s breathing calmed and slowed, he felt weary with exhaustion and drifted off to sleep, arms curled up in front of himself, facing the younger boy.

When he woke up flat on his back the next morning, the room was fairly bright, light streaming in through the uncovered window. But he could tell it was still very early and definitely wasn’t sunny, the grey sky giving the room an almost bluish tint. 

Beside him, Izuku was curled into a ball, huddled against his ribs. He wasn’t sure what the plan was for the day, or even what Izuku did all day. He gently sat up trying not to jostle the other boy so he could look around in better light since it was so dark the previous night. Carefully he stood up, pushing his share of the blankets over Izuku before he walked over to the window to look out.

He was right, the sky was overcast, thick clouds that threatened rain rolled through. He could see the alley that ran behind the back fence past where they had crawled through. Behind that was a steep embankment with a line of trees at the top, he couldn’t exactly see it but it seemed like a river or stream ran behind that. So the view out of the back wasn’t very forthcoming. He could see though, that at ground level below the window, at least three wooden pallets stacked up flat. With how twitchy Izuku had been, it was probably to break the fall should he ever need to jump from the window.

Behind him he heard the rustling of blankets and a small mumbling sound and he turned in time to see Izuku sit up rapidly in a panic “KAJ-“ the boys relief was visible when he laid eyes on the older teen “I thought- I…you…” he breathed slow and purposefully, trying to calm back down.

“Sorry Zu, I was just looking out of the window. Looks like it might rain.” 

“Well that sucks” Izuku grumbled as he stood up and stretched “Might work in our favour if it rains over dinner and into the evening. We can check the restaurants that don’t do take away, people tend not to eat out at restaurants when its raining and order to eat at home. So those that don’t cater for that sometimes have more waste at the end of the night”

“Is that what you do most of the day then? Plan for food?” He was curious what Izuku did, considering he’d only been living like this for a month, he had a very good set up. But then he had flitted around for 11 months before that, observing and probably planning all the while trying to turn off his quirk.

“Well if I have enough food in my bag then I look for clothing and washing supplies, if not then yeah. I check the bins throughout the cities, especially near the office blocks. People that are snacking, if they haven’t finished before they get back to work they often throw away scraps. I eat while I’m out but anything more than a couple of bites, I bag and bring home for dinner.” He pulled off his long sleeved jumper and pants, quickly changing into his clothes from the night before, then slipping on his shoes. Frowning as he looked at the other teens bare feet “Come on, lets grab you some clothes from the cupboard and see if we can make some shoes. These…” he lifts up his foot showing the red high top trainers “Were my shoes from before the accident. I’d run through a huge muddy puddle at school so mamma had washed them and left them outside. I guess they left them there as like… a memorial or something. I had to cut open the ends for my toes to poke out as they had gotten a little small. We should try find you something but for now, we can use some rubber from the chairs downstairs and tie it up with some of the duct tape I found.”

So the two boys set about in their mission. Izuku running around, grabbing everything they needed, Kajichan changing into a large pair of black sweatpants with a hole in one of the knees and a blue knitted jumper. There was a thin jacket, another pair of sweats and two more t-shirts in the clothing stash but they were all smaller, probably fitting the green haired boy better. After taping up some bits of rubbery plastic in the shape of shoe soles, Izuku made what he could of scraps to form straps so he could slip the ‘shoes’ on. The little kid seemed to have treated it like some homework project, ready to proudly show off his achievements.

“Ok, hopefully these sand… Zandles hold out. You see what I did there Kajichan“ the kid grinned

“Yes very good” he rolled his eyes fondly “Why don’t you shorten that name? You should just call me Kacha-“ he stopped when he noticed Izuku’s eyes widen, almost fearfully.

“Umm not that… I knew a boy… my best… but he- I can’t…”

“Jichan then?” He gave a weary smile when Izuku nodded “Right, show me the ropes then Zu, its breakfast time!”

A couple of hours later the two boys are sat on a large grassy area in a nice park, its empty because of the dismal looking sky but rain had yet to fall. They each had a bag with a few little scraps. Izuku was saving the almost whole onigiri he scored, saying someone mustn’t have liked the flavour if they threw it out after only a single bite.

Kajichan tipped his bag onto the grass “I’ve got an almost empty packet of pocky, a quarter of a sandwich, and just under half a meat bun”

“That’s great Jichan! Wrap up and save your meat bun for lunch just in case. I’ve got…” he tips out his bag “Apart from the onigiri… a large bite’s worth of ring cake, one piece of fried chicken, and this half a melon bun… oh we can share my melon bun and your meat bun for lunch!”

So the two boys ate through the measly amount of food, saving the two half buns for later then stood and drank some of the bottled water they came out with “Ok, we’ve got about a 20 minute walk to the next area to check for food, then the train station. Then if we get a good amount of food we can start looking for other things we might need. I’d really like to look for books, maybe we can get some notepads and pens from somewhere” the boy started mumbling on and on.

“Do you never steal anything?” Kajichan cut in

Izuku blinked, shocked “No… I.. I wanted to be a hero… before… well, mamma always taught me it was wrong to steal so I don’t want to.”

“What was she like?” He asks quietly, pensively staring into the distance, missing the sad look on his friend’s face. Because that’s what they were now, friends, something he’s never really had before and something tells him that its the same for Izuku.

“She was… its- I don’t know… she was so caring and smiling a lot when I was little, but then my quirk never came in and my dad… tried to make it come in and she just… did nothing, then she was quiet and dad left. I thought maybe she was sad because dad was hitting me and burning me…” this time it was Izuku’s turn to miss the look on his white haired friend’s face, a dark angry look. Izuku continues “But she just went to work, made dinner, went to bed. I mean she didn’t hurt me or anything but it was kind of lonely, but she- she was just sad about dad that’s all and she was busy working so we could afford things.”

“You shouldn’t make excuses for her, she doesn’t sound like a good mom to me” Kajichan sneered, that awful rage dragging him down into a bubbling pool. But same as before, Izuku pulls him up, saves him from drowning, nuzzling his soft freckled cheek against his shoulder obviously trying to hide his tear filled eyes.

He takes the opportunity to skip back to the previous, still mildly depressing subject “I don’t think we are going to find books and note pads Zu.” He finished with a sigh “But let’s just see what we get ok?”

Izuku nodded and the two boys got up and set off to carry on with the mission to find stocks of all and any variety.

Chapter Text

The rest of the day goes surprisingly well, they manage to get another half a sandwich, a half drunk bottle of vitamin water, half a banana and a mostly full fruit cup after a couple of hours of walking and searching bins. The boys decide to start heading back towards their ‘home’ in the early afternoon when it looks like the rain will be making an appearance soon. The conversation is fairly light, flitting through what things they like and dislike. Izuku excitedly discusses the merits of Katsudon while Kajichan debates his views on fish and why it’s disgusting, the younger says his favourite colour is red while the teen says he’s not sure but maybe he could like red too.  

On the way back through the industrial estate, Kajichan slows down and looks around before quickly hopping over a fence making Izuku yelp and whisper shout after him. The teen runs around the back of the building that seems to be a small manufacturing plant of some kind. He flits around nervously wondering where he could have ran off to and as the seconds tick by, panic begins to rise up his throat like burning bile. Suddenly the other boy appears from the side of the next building along with his carrier bag full of something.

“JICHAN!!” He whisper shouts again, running towards him “I thought- I thought-“ his breathing is erratic as he scratches at his cheeks to wipe away tears he didn’t even know were there.

He’s pulled into a strong hug which makes him stiffen even more “I’m sorry Zu, I didn’t mean to scare you, I’m back, you’re not alone.” Kajichan rubs soothing circles into his back, sighing as the smaller boy relaxes, shoulders sinking as relief floods in “I just saw in the upstairs window… they looked like a stationary company so I wanted to check the bins.” Izuku pulls up to look at him with wet lashes and big teary eyes, blinking when a large drop of rain lands squarely on his nose “I’ll show you when we get back, come on.” 

The two boys set off running to avoid getting too wet.

When they get back ‘home’ the two take off their damp clothes and huddle together in the mass of blankets, the teen finally pulls open his bag to reveal three ring bound notebooks, the lines slightly slanted making them unsellable and a pack of four pens with some black residue on the packaging.

“Jichan” he whispers “That’s amazing… and such a good idea! I’ve never really checked the bins in the factories, they usually have security at night and I’m too scared to go in during the day but we should see what other things are being made in the buildings, we could get more supplies!”

“Yeah… are we going back out later?”

“If it keeps raining I want to go check a couple of restaurants around closing time, I’ve only got the one jacket so I can go out alone…” he looks desperately like he doesn’t want to though, as if the other boy will disappear if he lets him out of his sight. 

“Do we have any plastic tarp? I could make like… like a hooded cape?”

Izuku’s eyes sparkle, giving away the answer without even speaking.

Later that night the boys have a mini feast, onigiri from the morning, with vitamin water and some green tea, then a tub of Katsu curry shared between them using plastic utensils that Izuku had been collecting. They even had another tub of miso soup and some udon that they placed in a bag downstairs in the coldest part of the building (near a broken window) in hopes that it wouldn’t spoil and they could eat it for breakfast and lunch tomorrow.

“Its a shame the curry was cold by the time we got back, but it was nice. I’ve not had curry in so long!” Izuku chats happily.

“If we can find like a metal pot then I can use my quirk to heat it” Kajichan lights his hand, stunning blue flames flickering in the drafty lunch room. 

The two boys stare at the flame, mesmerised by its beauty until Izuku breaks the silence “If you don’t want to be called by your own- umm old name anymore, have you thought of a new name yet? It really can’t be fire… or incinerate or cremation or anything like that” he laughs dryly “It almost sounds villainous and even if we’re n-nobodies to everyone else, we’re not villains right? Especially not to each other… right?” 

“I… I don’t know… since- I mean… I don’t know” the boy frowns at the table in front of him, clutching at straws in his mind, closing his hands and stoping the flames.

“I’ll come up with one ok? I am real good at this I promise” Izuku smiles.

With a small sigh, Kaji- no… the teen says that’s ok and a short while later they get ready for bed and huddle down together. 

The next morning the boys wake up early with the sun shooting blinding rays into the room, the older boy stands and walks to the window, yawning and stretching as he goes. “Damn it’s bright this morning. At least its not raining an-“

He's cut off by a gasp from behind him, when he turns he sees Izuku smiling so widely, almost laughing “What?”

“You… with your hair all spiky and white, and the light behind you, you looked like the sun! A bright sun!… That’s it! Haruto! Your name is Haruto! It’s perfect, you’re the sun” Izuku giggles at his crowning achievement and it’s such an adorable sight, warming through the burnt husk of shell surrounding and protecting his heart, he can’t help but smile back.

With a soft eye roll he nods “Ok, that’s my name now. Haruto.”

Izuku lets out a little cheer and hops out of the room with energy he got from god knows where, to go grab their breakfast.

Before Haruto and Izuku even realise it, a month has passed. The pair had become so close, so at ease with each other they might as well be brothers. Some days were tough, food might be scarce or thugs would try to grab them at one point or another, but they stick together. Haruto has moments when bitterness floods his veins, especially if they see either All Might or Endeavor. 

Izuku had explained that at one point the number one hero had been his favourite. When his quirk didn’t come in right away and nobody was there to save him from his dad he diversified his admiration to a few lesser known heroes, especially those who fought mostly quirkless but All Might was still the top of the pile in his books. Until of course the hero arrived at the scene of his quirk accident and accepted the answer that there was probably nothing he could do to help and that it was “just a quirkless kid” they couldn’t find in the fire. So from then on All Might had a spectacular fall from grace in Izuku’s eyes. 

As for Endeavor, Izuku wasn’t a fan at all and never had been. Aside from his disgruntled angry demeanour, the man was reckless in his heroics, sometimes causing more harm then good and often brutalising the villains even if they weren’t even doing anything too bad. The abuse he dished out at home was the icing on the cake. He tried to help Haruto see that the man was essentially a brutal bully with grand ambitions that left piles of victims in his wake. He said that if they had the chance they should try to save the other Todoroki’s from the man. Haruto would twist his mouth almost in disgust at mentions of his youngest brother Shouto but eventually he could see that the boy was just as much a victim, if not more so because at the rate it was probably going, he would never be free, would never know friends or happiness, only a path being pushed and forced on him. The teen seemed to accept it but Izuku could tell that without him, Haruto would have gone down a much deadlier path. He was grateful he ran into him that night, it really saved them both.  

The current problem facing the boys now, was that winter was fully extending its icy grip. Harsh cold nights were becoming more frequent and although it didn’t seem to bother Haruto, his quirk and numbed pain receptors aiding him, he could see Izuku becoming ill. So he set off on a mission one morning, telling Izuku to go try find enough food for the pair of them while he went to find ways to help with the cold. 

Raiding as many bins in the local industrial estate as possible, he got some plastic sheeting that they could tape up to the window in their ‘bedroom’, then hauled a large metal bucket and several metal pipes he’d grabbed from a construction site back to their ‘home’ with the intension of using his quirk to heat the metal and heat up the room without causing a fire and making smoke. 

He knew Izuku didn’t approve of stealing but what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. He hated the idea of lying to him, but keeping him safe through the winter was a priority. So he set off to a residential area on the other side of the river behind their building, hopping quietly over fences and grabbing clothing and blankets from washing lines as he ran, running in a wide loop through the streets. Most of the clothes were wet or damp but if they strung them up using the cable he’d grabbed last week they could dry in the slightly warmer bedroom. By the time he got back it was almost midday and he was terribly hungry. He’d forced Izuku to eat most of the scraps they had left at breakfast after all. He strung up the cable and hung the woollen hat, the single sheet, the two small cot blankets, hoodie, three pairs of socks and long sleeved T-shirt he’d acquired up to dry. Then stood up, put on the medical mask out of the pack they had, pulled up his hood and headed back out. 

Extra food was the next mission and he knew exactly where to go. Over on the other side of the industrial estate was a company that made dried soup powders and other dried foods. He knew it was a risk, the chances of anything being in the outside bins was low but with most of the staff in the canteen, he was hoping he could grab a few cardboard trays worth from the packing room. He’d become used to sneaking, slipping through small gaps silently, using shadows, crouching behind and under things. At the back of the building, in the packing room he could see two men chatting wildly, laughing and joking with each other. On the desk next to them were several plastic wrapped trays with half a dozen boxes of miso soup mix, there would probably be at least 3 servings of soup in each box. Next to it on the floor was the large wooden pallet that the trays would be stacked upon. If he could just grab a set of boxes…

Looking around he found a small metal pole under the desk next to the ajar back door he was hiding beside. When the two men started laughing hysterically again, he threw the metal pole past them so it clattered through the door beside them. The moment they turned, he shot as fast as he could, grabbing the tray and bolting back through the door. Just as he got out he heard them shouting. His heart was beating so fast, he could feel his throat closing a little in panic as he dived through the gap in the fence, racing down the alley behind the factory. There was thudding footsteps and shouting but he just ran, knowing the two lazy workers wouldn’t keep up the chase. 

Barely ten minutes later, pouring with sweat, aching and nauseous, Haruto arrived back at their building, shedding his hood and mask before going inside. 

“Haruto? Is that you?” Called Izuku from upstairs

He froze “Uhh yeah its me, I’ll be up in a sec” he quickly dismantled the tray, stashing the evidence then stomped a few times on the boxes “I’ve found the most amazing haul from a bin on the other side of the estate” he called, trying to calm his breathing and sound cheery. Hopping up the stairs, he found Izuku shivering in the bedding. “Hey… are you ok?”

Izuku plastered on a sweet smile with some difficulty it seemed “Umm yep… j-just… hah just a bit c-cold”

Haruto frowned and knelt down using his quirk to heat up the pipes in the metal bucket “Don’t touch the metal ok?”

“W-wow! T-thats s-so great Haruto! Y-you’re so s-smart” the younger boy shook with cold.

“And look, I found a bunch of trashed soup mix boxes, hopefully the food inside is ok.” He rubbed Izuku’s arms briskly, trying to help with the shivering “I’ll go heat water in the pan and we can have a nice warm lunch. How did you go with the bins today?” 

“Umm not great. Half a b-bottle of green tea, a few scraps of meat b-buns and cake, quarter of a s-sandwich” Izuku whispered, not wanting to look up and see how disappointed Haruto would be with him.

“Hey, Zu… look at me” he gently lifted the boy’s chin with a finger, smiling when soft turquoise met glistening emerald “Its ok. I’m not disappointed, I know how hard you try.”

“Thanks”

Later that night, Haruto left Izuku in bed after dinner, saying he could go out looking for food but he wanted Izuku to rest. He’d reached out and felt his forehead and was getting worried, what if Izuku needed medicine, what on earth would they do then?

Barely half an hour later he was behind a string of restaurants, going through the bins, grumpily complaining “Come on, there’s got to be more than this, Zu is sick” he whimpered. With a sigh he jumped out of the large bin and moved to the next one, gradually going through the bins methodically, then slipping into the alley and behind then next restaurant. He tipped forward, head in the large bin when a voice startles him.

“Hey… its ok, I’m not here to hurt you or anything. I’ve seen you looking through the bins around here before… I don’t like this sandwich, I grabbed egg by mistake, do you want it? I’ve only had one bite…” said the dark haired man.

Haruto eyed him suspiciously, looking at the sandwich in his out stretched hand then back to his face a few times.

“Its ok, I promise I won’t hurt you or do anything, look” he put the sandwich back into the plastic bag he was carrying and placed in on the floor, backing away with his arms up in surrender “Take it, it’s fine.”

Haruto hopped forward, snatching the bag and jumping back again, almost like a feral animal. He carried on watching the man “You homeless too?” the teen asked quietly.

The man chuckled a little “You wouldn’t be the first to ask that. No, I’m not. I’m a hero-“ he stopped, noticing the panic in the boys eyes “I’m not like the rest though, you won’t know me. Fame and fortune are not in my thing, I just like helping people.” 

Haruto relaxed a little “I’ll bet my brother would know who you are… what’s your name?”

“Eraserhead” 

Chapter Text

Aizawa sat on the roof, watching the alley and streets below as he took the lid off his hot coffee. Steam swirled around his head while he stirred in a sugar and breathed the delicious smell in deeply. It was getting colder as they moved deeper into winter, nights felt darker and more ominous so he felt a pain in his heart as he saw two very young boys walk down the alley next to the building he sat on and start rummaging through the bins.

He watched silently as the two quietly talked, filling up the two plastic carriers with whatever seemed valuable but they were talking a lot about food. It was heartbreaking, the younger one probably only looked around 7, the older one maybe 12 he thought. He followed them around a little, watching as they went from alley to alley, bin to bin for over an hour before they set off walking, the smaller one moaning about the cold. Taking a chance and hopping ahead, he turned back to try get a better look at their faces as they moved forward. The smaller one had green hair, peeping out from his hood, the other had white hair and a shocking amount of scars. Looking ahead they seemed to be walking towards the industrial estate but before he could follow, his phone went off, silently vibrating once in his pocket.

“Damn it” he whispered. Looking down, the kids seemed in fairly good spirits but it was obvious they were homeless. The little green one had red high top trainers that were taped up on the toes, the other had little slip on shoes that looked to be made from duct tape. Pulling out his phone he saw a request to intervene at a quirk malfunction incident across town. Making a silent pledge to find the boys again, he sent a reply to say he was on the way and disappeared into the night.

Five days later he was at the police station, waiting for a meeting with Tsukauchi about the closure of a trafficking case he’d been working on with him and a few other underground heroes. He was happy to put the whole thing behind him because now that’s over, he’s pulling back on the hero work a little. He’s still on call for out of control quirks, patrols twice a week and obviously has been teaching at UA but its tiring, so he’s pulling back from regular hero missions, just working on ones where his erasure quirk is absolutely necessary. Perhaps down the line he might switch and pull out of patrolling, going back to more regular missions but for now this was his plan. 

He stepped out of Tsukauchi’s office to grab a coffee from the staff room when he heard the detective walking over, in deep conversation with another officer.

“They’re just hungry kids, I’m not opening a case for kids that are on the streets searching bins for food. Until they actually break the damn law, tell the fella to stop wasting our damn time!” The man finishes angrily, dismissing the officer and looking up at Aizawa. “Sorry, damn meeting went over”

“Let me guess, restaurant owners upset at homeless kids raiding the bins?” He says casually as he steps back into the office, sipping the drink.

Tsukauchi grunts in affirmation, pulling open the filing cabinet to rifle through and pull out the forms to sign. He sits down with a humph “Driving me crazy, two calls this week. We are so busy tying up the loose ends from this case, working on the connections to other rings, I’m not putting hard working cops on the streets to arrest some poor fucking kids” the man roughly rubs his stubble, obviously frustrated.

“Tell them you have a hero patrolling the area to investigate next time they call” he replies calmly with a shrug.

Tsukauchi narrows his eyes “You’ve seen them huh? Two kids, one really young, the other barely a teen, wearing hoodies, off Akio Street”

Aizawa nods “I was following them the other night, they’re really young. One of them, the older one has shoes made from duct tape for gods sake! I want to find out what’s happened to them, help them y’know”

“Well… ok, I’m not opening a case or anything but I’ll pass on that that’s our official response”

Two days later he sees them again, this time he’ll be damned if he’s pulled away with another goddamn quirk malfunction. So he follows the boys, keeping to the rooftops as they head towards that industrial estate again. The younger one seems to be a bit slower this time, they both notably have less pep in their steps. He ducks down on the roof as the younger boy looks over his shoulder as the pair move towards a small condemned factory but when he goes to look back up he’s distracted by sirens on the street behind him, pulling back to see if he’s needed. When he looks back over the boys are gone “Shit.”

Another two days later he gets a phone call mid afternoon from Tsukauchi saying a local manufacturer has reported a robbery - specifically of food, the young thief was chased out but the staff workers noticed he had taped on shoes, realising he was just a hungry homeless kid they delayed reporting it out of sympathy but they didn’t want to get fired so they had to file a report. A few hours later he sees the older boy, on his own going through the bins.

“Where’s the little one?” He mumbles to himself as he watches from the roof. 

The teen looks almost frantic, letting out a small cry “Come on, there’s got to be more than this, Zu is sick”

Aizawa turns with a frown, running quietly over the roof top, hopping down and over the road into a convenience store, grabbing a sandwich, bottle of mineral water and a few small snacks. He takes a bite of the sandwich before wrapping it all up and approaches the boy who is now down another alley.

He tries to talk quietly “Hey…” but notices the boy’s flinch and panicked eyes. He stops dead still, not wanting the kid to run off “It’s ok, I’m not here to hurt you or anything. I’ve seen you looking through the bins around here before… I don’t like this sandwich, I grabbed egg by mistake, do you want it? I’ve only had one bite…” he said softly, pulling out the sandwich and holding it out.

The teen’s eyes narrowed, gaze flitting between the offering and the hero, looking up and down to assess the danger.

“Its ok, I promise I won’t hurt you or do anything, look” he put the sandwich back into the plastic bag with the other bits he’d grabbed and put in on the down on the floor, backing away with his arms up in surrender “Take it, it’s fine.”

The white haired boy hopped forward like a stray cat, snatching the bag and jumping back. Eyes still suspicious he looked into the bag then back up to Aizawa “You homeless too?”

‘Well that joke sure doesn’t get old’ he thought as he consciously fought the urge to roll his eyes  “You wouldn’t be the first to ask that. No, I’m not. I’m a hero-“ wild mistrust and panic spread over the boys expression so he frantically tacks on “I’m not like the rest though, you won’t know me. Fame and fortune are not my thing, I just like helping people.” ‘Like kids that shouldn’t be goddamn homeless as we are going into a mean winter’

The teen relaxed a little “I’ll bet my brother would know who you are… what’s your name?”

“Eraserhead… he’s probably never-“

The teen cut him off with a crazed laugh “Well I’ll be, I should get you to sign this sandwich. He’s going to be so jealous. THE Eraserhead. You basically fight quirkless right?”

Aizawa is amazed the kid knows him, it could be his ticket to getting closer to the kids “Yeah that’s right. That’s a real surprise, your brother must be pretty smart on heroics”

“Only the heroes that are worth it nowadays” the teen mumbles through an angsty expression.

“I’d love to meet him, you guys live near here?” He tried to keep his tone light and friendly… it was a chore to be airy and pleasant but he had to make a connection with the boy but his face went dark.

“What…. Wh… so you can just arrest us?! Just split us up and dump us in an orphanage!!” His voice salted with anger, fists clenched.

“I’d never do that, come on kid. If your brother looks up to me then you’d know, he’d know, I’m not like that. Please, I just want to help.” He was desperately pleading, something was stirring in his chest that just filled him with anguish. Perhaps his childhood was responsible for that. “Its getting so cold, you’re going to get sick, I promise I won’t let you down.” He took a step closer, noting the sad look in the other boys eyes “Is he sick? Your little brother? He looks so small, we can go help him, I’ve got some meds in my pockets”

The teen looked around, desperately trying to decide if it was a trap, or maybe trying to figure out if it was better to just run. Aizawa would just follow him if he did that but he really wanted the kid to trust him.

“He’s been shivering but his head felt sweaty, I don’t know what that means, he’s- he’s been slow and tired but” the teen sucked in a breath, it looked like he was holding in a sob.

“Hey why don’t we go see him, even if I just give you guys meds and food then leave you to it, at the very least he’s going to be excited to see me right?” ‘Please please please’

The teen just stared at him with shimmering bright eyes then looked down at the food bag “Umm ok Mr Eraserhead”

“Hey kid, what’s your name? I mean, I can keep calling you kid…?”

The boy just sighed “You’ll have to earn that” and started quickly walking away, checking back over his shoulder to make sure the hero was following behind.

The two walked quickly in silence and in about fifteen minutes they’re at the same condemned building he’d seen them near a few nights ago. He hops lithely over the fence while the boy slithers through a gap at the bottom, moving a set of pallets before sliding open a window and climbing in. The place is freezing cold and extremely dirty, there are bits of concrete, wiring and animal droppings littering the floor. The sight of it breaks his heart and its probably apparent on his face as the kid speaks up “I know its disgusting down here, I- umm my brother said its less appealing to others that might try break in. We live upstairs…”

They turn out of the main room downstairs and go up some fragile metal stairs, every step he takes makes his heart pump a little harder, the rusty frame creaking under his weight. As they get to the top the teen turns and puts his finger up to his lip to say to be quiet, he nods in understanding. When he pushes open the door, they walk into the small former store room. 

The room is a tiny bit warmer, he can see the plastic sheeting taped up to the window to keep in the heat and in front of him, the other boy curled up asleep in a makeshift bed. The teen knelt down and to his shock, uses blisteringly hot blue flames to heat up metal in a bucket. 

After a minute or so the teen turns and starts stroking the little boys hair. “Hey I’m home, I’m sorry for waking you little guy”

The little green haired boy whimpers and turns, pulling his brothers hand to his cheek and cuddling it “Feel cold and tired” he opens his eyes blearily and it just breaks Aizawa’s heart even more. They’ve obviously put a lot of effort into this ‘home’ but the boys are slowly starving to death. The poor kid looks so pale, freckles paint his cheeks like sprinkles on a canvas. He crouches down slowly so as not to alarm the boy and that’s when he’s noticed.

“Ha- uhhh… is… wh…” he looks at his brother with eyes wide as saucers, then looks back at the hero “You’re my favourite hero” he lets out a little sob as he pushes himself to sit up, fisting his hands in the blankets.

“I’m honoured little guy.”

Chapter Text

Izuku wonders if maybe he’s hallucinating because he feels like absolute horse crap but in front of him is the Pro-Hero Eraserhead. He unclenches his fists from the blanket and reaches out to touch his arm and sobs again when it feels firm. The man gives him a small smile “I’m real I promise” before reaching out and putting his hand against Izuku’s forehead. Giving a little frown he adds “Lets get some food into you and then I’ve got some medicine, ok Green?”

Izuku frowned “Green?”

The hero smirks “Well apparently I have to earn the right to know your names. So you’re green” he says as he sits on the floor cross legged, then points to Haruto “and he’s kid.”

Haruto chuckles, sitting next to Izuku and pulling out the egg sandwich. He stops for a second as he looks into the bag “Umm sorry Mr Eraser, you’ve still got things in here”

“Oh really?” He looks over with a quirked brow, then waves his hand dismissively “Ah you boys need it more than me, go on… eat, drink… please” the hero then pulls out tablets, pushing them out of the foil seals “Green how old are you? For the dosage” 

Izuku mumbles “nine” very quietly. He still feels awful, his head is fuzzy but after eating his half of sandwich and taking the tablets, he knows things are going to feel better soon.

“How long have you boys been on the streets?”

Izuku frowns, he’s not sure how to explain this or even how much to tell “Umm… w-well… Its been about a m-month for you right?” He nods to Haruto who nods back “I’ve been… longer…”

Eraser frowns “So are you not real brothers?”

Haruto scoffs “We don’t exactly look alike” he smiles at Izuku “But we’re real brothers…” then giving the hint of a scowl at the hero “blood doesn’t have to be involved!”

The hero nods “You’re right kid, I hope I didn’t upset you, you’re absolutely right”

Izuku is quick to step in, Eraser is his favourite hero, he doesn’t want him feeling bad!! “No its ok Mr Eraser, you d-didn’t upset us! Thank you so m-much for the food and drink… and the meds! My h-head is already feeling better!” It’s a little lie but it's important that the hero knows he’s grateful. But then his thoughts start to drift to the fact that a hero is here, what is going to happen to them? Will they separate him from Haruto? Will he be sent to a home where they ignore him and treat him like a waste of space? Useless?? Stupid Deku??!

“Hey, no!” Haruto has his hands cupping his face gently as he kneels in front, Izuku gasping a little as he realises he was mumbling his fears out loud “That’s not happening and you are not useless, we aren’t failures remember! We survive together remember!”

“Green, I promised your brother I wouldn’t just dump you in an orphanage, I won’t let you be separated, you’re not getting dropped in the foster system with people that don’t care either. I keep my promises, you know that right Green?” The hero gently put his hand on Izuku’s shoulder, just briefly before putting it back in his own lap.

“Thanks Mr Eraser”

“Just call me Aizawa ok?” Izuku nods but grimaces with the headache, the hero continues “I’ve got an idea ok… now I don’t want you to panic or get upset because I meant what I said. But little Green, you’re not going to get better in this cold, dusty, condemned warehouse. Both of you, please, come back to mine. Just while lil Green is sick at least. I’ve got a spare room, you can have some warmth, plenty of food, a hot shower and a real bed - well, I’ve got a couple of roll out futons but its better than this. Get your strength up.”

“You’re not going to rat us out?” Haruto quirks his brow, still cautious of the hero.

“I won’t, you have my word”

Haruto looks at Izuku “I know we’ve always been weary of the heroes after they abandoned us-“ the two miss the tiniest flicker of something in Aizawa’s eyes “But we can just get up to strength yeah? I promised myself when you found me and took me in that I would help you survive and I just… I don’t know if I can do it here while you’re sick”

Izuku looks into Haruto’s piercing eyes, glistening with despair and tears he can’t shed anymore “Ok” he whispers quietly, drowsiness rushing over him like a tidal wave “M’tired onii-chan…”

Haruto watches as Izuku drifts off to sleep, slumping to the side and looking over to Aizawa in mild panic but the hero just gives him the smallest smile and whispers “It’s just the meds making him sleepy, do you want to pack up anything you want to bring? I’ll carry him.”

Haruto nods but really, what do they have that’s worth bringing? With a slight frown he gets up and begins roughly folding up the blankets and clothing they have, stuffing it into plastic bags along with Izuku’s notebooks. “Umm Mr Aizawa, should I bring the first aid kit and food?” He asks quietly.

“You won’t need it kid, it’s ok… Is that all you’re bringing?” Aizawa motions towards the two carrier bags and gets a nod in return “Ok then, let’s head out. My place is about 25 minutes walk away, is that ok? I can call a taxi if you want?”

“No its fine…. Umm, thank you for taking care of him and helping us” Haruto mumbles as he watches the hero pull Izuku onto his back, grumbling something about the boy being too light.

After a bit of wrangling they manage to get through the fence with the very asleep Izuku and begin again on their journey to the hero’s house, stopping about halfway to put a blanket over the younger boy. 

Half an hour of walking later, they come across an apartment complex. Its not super flashy but the gardens outside are pleasant, bushy trees lining the path once they pass through the gate and two large flower pots either side of the outdoor stairs. Arriving on the third floor, they come to a stop at apartment number 11, hero pausing after putting his key in the lock “I forgot to say, I’ve got a cat… you and Green don’t have allergies do you?”

“Oh… I don’t know actually. Neither of us have owned a cat before” 

Aizawa nods and unlocks the door, flipping the light switch on and walking into the genkan, silently toeing off his boots. Haruto slips in behind him and quietly closes the door. He looks down at his feet, the little shoes Izuku made him have been repaired more times than they could count and the double layered socks he had to wear were filthy, sending a wave of anxiety flooding through him. The hero must’ve noticed, whispering “Don’t worry about it, just put some of the spare slippers on, you’re ok.” Haruto looked up desperately, eyes flitting quickly to Izuku “I’m going to put him on the couch ok? Come in when you’re ready.” 

He watched Aizawa walk past the end of the little entryway divider and forward into the open plan area ahead, Izuku still lolling in his arms as he turned to the left. The second Izuku was no longer in his sight his throat felt tight so he quickly bent down and grabbed some slippers and changed into them, practically running the couple of steps needed to catch up. As he got past the entry way he saw to the left a large three-seat couch and a recliner arm chair, directly across from a large wall mounted television with several small shelves either side. Aizawa was gently laying Izuku down on the couch, moving to untie and take off his shoes. “I’m going to set up the futons, then I’ll grab wash things and towels, I’m sure you both want a nice soak in the bath. Can I get you a drink?”

Haruto stared wide eyed, damn he was kind. Izuku was the best judge of character… well outside of himself anyway he thought. “Yes please, anything will do. I’m not fussy” he let out a tiny dry laugh.

The man nodded and walked off, turning on a couple of lamps as he went, leaving the teen to look around. He didn’t really dare to, what if the man had a secret temper, or a mean streak… so he perched on the couch just past Izuku’s feet. The couch was incredibly soft and just like the recliner was dark grey, a few cushions of different shades of yellow dotted around. The tv wall in front of him had a few pictures, mostly of Aizawa with other people, probably friends or family. To the left in the other half of the room nearer the front window was a kotatsu, again in this grey and yellow colour scheme, files and paperwork scattered on the top making it obvious that the man liked to sit there doing work. 

To his right (and slightly behind him) was a dark hallway, probably leading off to the bedrooms, where he could quietly hear Aizawa moving things around. And behind him was the kitchen, it looked long and thin, spread along the wall with a high backed Island separating the two spaces but from what he could see, it barely looked used. ‘Come to think of it there’s no dining room, just the two stools at the end of the kitchen counter’ Haruto thinks.

Movement caught his eye only it wasn’t Aizawa, but a black cat with bright yellow eyes staring at him inquisitively. It quickly jumped up on to the arm of the couch beside him making him tense ‘am I supposed to let it sniff me? Or is that dogs?’ He wondered as he slowly pushed himself back so he was sitting normally on the couch. Barely a second after he was fully seated, the cat move over onto his lap with a small meow “Umm… hi?”

“Ah… that’s Tuna” Aizawa suddenly appeared, standing behind the couch looking over his shoulder “He’s friendly as you can see. He likes pets and attention. And tuna.”

The teen snorted a little laugh as he reached out tentatively and scratched softly under the cat’s chin, smiling as it leaned in to it. “Is that why he’s called tuna?”

“Not exactly, I found him when he was a kitten, like you actually he was scavenging for food in an alley. He was trying to get into a half opened can of tuna and it had cut up his paws and tongue. Bought him home, cleaned him up and offered him a bowl of tuna and that was it, he was my family from then on.” The man turned and went into the kitchen, filling a kettle to boil and getting cups. 

Haruto was torn between watching Aizawa and watching the cat, maybe he wanted to get to know both of them more, maybe he was feeling jealous of the cat going through what they had gone through but coming out on top. Before he could journey down a spiralling road of depression the cat began kneading and purring.

“Oh you’ve done it now” called out Aizawa, making the teen tense and panic “You’re never getting away from him, he’s claimed you as newest giver of pets and affection”

Haruto quickly calmed as he realised the hero was being silly, his dry deadpan voice was a little difficult to tell but when he’d turned and saw the widest shit eating grin, he knew Aizawa was just trying to lighten the mood. “He’s just like Iz- uh Green. He loves cuddles and head pats.”

“Ah its good to hear, I’ll bet they’ll get along like a house on f-“ the hero cut himself off, quietly cursing “Is tea ok? And I want you to try wake Green up, he needs some more fluids”

“Yeah thanks” Haruto was glad that awkward moment was over, leaning forward to wake his little brother. “Hey Zu” he whispers, gently gripping the boy’s shoulder “Can you wake up for me Otouto” he started gently stroking Izuku’s arms, helping the boy rouse “We’re at Eraserhead’s, its warm… he has a cat”

“Cat?” A tiny voice whispers, Haruto chuckles because of course Izuku would respond to that. The little boy starts opening and closing his mouth, licking his lips and grumbling “…Thirsty”

“I’ve got just the thing” Aizawa calls calmly from the kitchen, chinking cups together as he brings them in and puts them on the low coffee table in front of the couch. He looks over and smiles as Izuku slowly sits up, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

“Hmmm this couch is soft and squishy” he mumbles as he smacks his chops. He suddenly seems to realise the situation and goes wide eyed, looking around himself, over to Haruto next to him, down to the cat in the boy’s lap, then up at Aizawa “Oh!”

The hero chuckles softly “I’ve got the bathroom set up with toothbrushes, wash cloths and towels. The futons are set up in the spare room. I’d just like to take your temperature ok Green?” He pulls a forehead thermometer out from his pocket and gestures to Izuku.

“Ok Mr Aizawa” he says leaning forward towards the man.

A quick beep later and everything seems to be ok, just a mild fever he says before he heads back to the kitchen to grab a plateful of store bought cookies. Its not long before the boys have ravenously devoured about four cookies each and drained their cups so Aizawa gives them a quick tour of what they haven’t seen yet.

“So this is my room” he points at a closed door “I’ve got an ensuite so don’t worry about keeping the other bathroom to yourselves, if you need me at all overnight, just knock or call out ok?” The two boys nod “That’s the bathroom” he points to the door at the far end on the right “And this here is the spare room” he opens the door directly across from his. There’s two well cushioned futons laid out about a foot apart against the far wall, plush blue bedding and pillows set on top. To the right is a chest of drawers with a pale blue lamp, a present mic themed radio and large box of tissues on the top. 

“I know its pretty simple but its warm and comfy.” He continues “In the top drawer there’s some spare clothes, rummage through and find anything that fits then tomorrow we can wash all of your clothes. Get washed up, I’ll be out in the living room if you need me” 

The two boys watched as he walked away, pulling the door as he left, leaving it just a tiny bit ajar. Izuku turned to Haruto, eyes wet with unshed tears “This is crazy, he’s… he’s so nice. This is…” his lip wobbled “Its been so long” the little boy sobs as he’s pulled into the teens welcoming arms.

“Lets get showered and bathed, say good night and have a nice sleep yeah? We can think about all this in the morning. I don’t think he’s going to betray us, he’s not your favourite for nothing.” Haruto says as he rubs circles in Izuku’s back. 

The two disappear into the bathroom together, not wanting to be apart from one another. Showering and getting clean before they can get in the bath is surprisingly time consuming. Despite their best efforts with the industrial size bottle of hand soap Izuku had found, the two were kind of filthy. Especially their hair, Izuku’s at this point was so dry, parts were matted. After washing with shampoo and conditioner three times the boys hunted through the cupboards finding some scissors and cut out the matted hair at the back. They were happy though, a warm shower, heating their bones was a blessing that couldn’t be understated so they repeatedly kept giggling as they washed. The relief and bone deep exhaustion pushed them into hysterics, laughing about anything and everything.

“Zu you have to let me try fix this crows nest” Haruto laughed “Its almost down to your shoulders but bits underneath at the back” he cackled bending forward gripping his ribs “there’s bits that are like 2cm long Pahahaha the trees outside were better groomed!”

“Maybe Zawa will shave it underneath for me, like an undercut, I still wanna keep it long. You should keep yours spikey, s’cool, like a hedgehog” he giggles.

By the time they’ve had a wonderful warm bath, both boys have drooping eyelids. They put on the t-shirts they grabbed, struggling to keep up the boxers underneath and step out into the hallway “We need to get a drink of water each for the bedroom” Haruto whispered, Izuku shook his head wide eyed, Haruto nodding “Ask him, he’s your hero” the teen hissed.

“Nuh-uh I don’t wanna be a burden!” Izuku hissed back.

“Neither of you are burdens, asking for a drink of water is perfectly fine” Aizawa called from the kotatsu.

The boys gasped from the hallway.

Chapter Text

“Get washed up, I’ll be out in the living room if you need me” Aizawa says as he leaves the room, pulling the door behind him but not quite closing it, that way when he noisily and obviously wanders off into the living room, they will just assume he’s out of earshot.

The second he reaches the edge of the living room, he pulls to the side, listening to what they say ‘as well as one can listen with crappy hearing as a result of a friendship with Zashi’

“This is crazy, he’s… he’s so nice. This is…” he hears the younger boy, struggling with emotion as he speaks “Its been so long” he continues, breaking down into tiny sobs that grow muffled as he’s probably hugged. Aizawa felt a deep sadness in his chest as he continued to listen.

“Lets get washed, say good night and have a nice sleep yeah? We can think about all this in the morning. I don’t think he’s going to betray us, he’s not your favourite for nothing.” The teen says and if that doesn’t strengthen his resolve nothing will. He’s determined to help these boys, gain their trust more, find out who they are and what happened to them. 

He hears the door open a minute or so later and the two head together further down into the bathroom, closing and locking the door. He takes the opportunity to pull out his phone and send a text to the patrol coordinator saying he finished up early due to illness. He then stares at the phone for a while wondering about his next move. He doesn’t want to contact Tsukauchi yet, he wants to get their names first. ‘I should phone in sick tomorrow’ he thinks.

Aizawa: Feeling unwell, had to come back from patrol early so I won’t be in to teach tomorrow.

He has this weird sinking feeling but shakes it off when the reply comes

Nezu: No worries, hope you start feeling better soon, the cold certainly is making an appearance isn’t it.

Down the hall he hears laughing so he softly tip toes towards the bathroom, opening his bedroom door as he passes it in case he needs to make a hasty retreat.

 “Zu you have to let me try fix this crows nest” the teen laughs, talking about the varied hair lengths on his brother’s head, laughing and joking something about the trees outside.

The younger boy giggles as he talks “Maybe Zawa will shave it underneath for me, like an undercut, I still wanna keep it long.”

“Zawa” he whispers to himself with a tiny smile. 

The boys sound happy, a little hysterical perhaps from the warmth, sugary cookies and exhaustion he thinks. His phone vibrates again.

Nezu: Are the boys sick too?

“Shit” he mumbles and walks back to the kotatsu, wondering if he should reply with denials or ask why the hell the rat bear dog is spying on him. He sits down on the cushions, allowing the toasty warmth to seep into his bones, putting the phone on the low table in front of him. It doesn’t take long before another text comes through.

Nezu: Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. Help them, find out about them and then I will help however I can. Fake identities, opening cases against abusive parents, new identities, adoption papers…

Aizawa’s eyes widened a little before he locked his phone. Then grabbed the phone and turned it over so it was face down. Then nudged it a little across the table. Further giggling down the hall pulled him out of his internal panic, so he reached forward and grabbed the pile of homework he still had to mark and carried on with it. 

About 15 minutes later he heard the boys come out of the bathroom, opening the door to the spare room but stopping in the hallway.

“We need to get a drink of water each for the bedroom” the teen whispered, then after a pause “Ask him, he’s your hero!!” the teen hissed. Aizawa bit his tongue to stop the bubble of laughter threatening to spill.

“Nuh-uh I don’t wanna be a burden!” The younger one hissed back. 

The hero sighed, shuffling back and calling out as he stood up “Neither of you are burdens, asking for a drink of water is perfectly fine” then rolling his eyes as they both gasped. “Come on, I can grab you a couple of glasses of water, it's no problem.” 

He wondered into the kitchen, grabbing and filling two glasses as the two boys hovered at the edge of the room “Green, it's been about two hours since you had those meds. How are you feeling?”

He saw out of the corner of his eye the older boy nudging and encouraging the other to speak up “Umm I’m just tired Mr Aizawa… Thank you for helping us” he finished with a deep bow, grabbing the front of his brother’s t-shirt and pulling him down too.

“Its ok, relax.” He handed the drinks over “In about four or five hours it will wear off so if you start feeling unwell again come and get me, just knock on my bedroom door if I’m not out here ok?”

“Thanks” “I’ll keep an eye on him Mr Aizawa” they said together. The hero nodded and turned to walk back to the kotatsu.

“Goodnight Green, Goodnight Kid”

“Izuku” said the little one making him turn in shock ‘he trusts me!’

The teen sighed “I ummm…”

He raised his arms, trying to placate the boy “Its ok kid, if you’re not ready its ok”

“No its not… I mean… Izuku calls me Haruto. That’s my name now…” the teen’s voice lowered getting quieter “My name before the accident… I can’t, he’s dead now ok?” 

“Ok Haruto, thank you. And thank you Izuku. I’m honoured you trust me enough to tell me and its Shouta ok? Shouta Aizawa. Now go get some rest. If you need more blankets just let me know.”

“G’night” the boys whispered, voices sounding thick with emotion.

He watched them walk away, listening for when the door closed then sat down at the kotatsu and grabbed his laptop. ‘So we have Izuku, age nine, been homeless for more than a month. And we have Haruto but that’s not his real name, has blue flames for a quirk, was in an accident and perhaps presumed dead?’

He typed in the police website, logged in and went to the missing persons page. “Ok lets see…” he mumbled as he typed in the details. Missing: More than a month - less than 2 years, Current age: 9yrs approx, Quirk: unknown, First name: Izuku, Hair colour: Green, Eye colour: Green, Region: Musutafu +/- 50km.

Results: None.

“What the fuck” he whispered “None?” He leant back, arms propping himself up behind him, fingers splayed on the plush dark grey carpet. He looked up and stared at nothing on the ceiling for a moment wondering what else he could try. The wall clock on the opposite wall showing just how late it was in the evening. Thinking back to the teen and their conversation back at that building earlier, he tried something else.

Missing: between 1-3 months, Current age: 11-15 yrs, Quirk: Blue fire (general), Name: unknown, Hair colour: white, Eye colour: blue/turquoise, Region: Musutafu +/- 50km. 

Results: None

“Wait…”

He typed away in a second window: Registry of deaths. He entered the details again after logging in with his hero licence.

Results: None

He frowned at the word, the quirk, hair and eye colour were fairly unique. He rubbed his chin, ‘the scars look very well healed for an accident that happened a month ago and if he was taken to a hospital there would be records…’

Opening a third window: hospital admissions within 100km of Musutafu. He hummed to himself as he typed in severe burns, age range, any within the last five years. Thirteen results. For the next half an hour he scoured through the data but ultimately came up empty handed. 

He closed the window and got up to stretch his legs, grabbing a fruit pouch from the fridge, stopping to listen at the edge of the hall. The boys must be asleep he thought, it was quiet as a mouse, even Tuna was fast asleep on the recliner.

“What about…” he went back onto the Registry of deaths, taking a gamble and increasing the date range for the death but keeping all the other data and pressed enter. He gasped as the result came up with a single name: Touya Todoroki.

“Shit” he roughly scratched his scalp, eying his phone on the other side of the table but stopping himself before he reached out for it. Instead going back to the police website to pull up anything regarding the death of the boy.

Data was scarce, he’d never heard of the incident at Sekoto Peak and everything about the reports screamed of it being swept under the rug by the Commission. But this had happened more than three years ago, where on earth had the kid been if Izuku said his brother had only been on the streets for a month. He took a deep breath, puffing it out in one long sigh through his nose. The photo on the file was of a very sad looking boy, around eight or nine years old. “What happened to you” he mumbled.

As he reached over the table his phone buzzed.

Nezu: Hmm very interesting. I shall do some digging into young Touya. I suggest keeping what you have found out a secret from him and wait for him to talk to you about it himself. As for the younger boy, I fiddled with your search a little. Izuku Midoriya, presumed dead in an apartment fire a year ago, Quirkless. Have a look and see what you think. 

His eye twitched in annoyance. Of course the rat was watching his log-ins to see what he was thinking with regards to the boys. As irritated as he was, he at least had another name to look into. And if it was one son of Endeavor and one diagnosed Quirkless then really, he wasn’t surprised the two boys had little faith in heroes. And it explained why he was Izuku’s favourite, fighting quirkless.

He wasn’t surprised when he looked into Izuku’s files and found the minimum amount of detail, quirkless discrimination wasn’t unheard of. The boy’s body was never recovered but it was dismissed. He had no other family close by, the divorced father Hisashi Midoriya was uncontactable and the hero had a sneaking suspicion something was up there. When he went to the images something stuck out - a photograph from outside the burnt apartment of a pair of unmistakable red high top shoes. The final image made his chest clench, it was a school photograph of a sparkly eyed boy with an awkward smile, looking to be around 6 years old.

Aizawa: That’s him, Izuku Midoriya. Can you look into the dad when you get the time, I don’t trust it, something seems off. Thanks for your help with this. Talk to you tomorrow. 

He closed the windows on the laptop and went to close it down, mouse hovering over the shut down button. He frowned thinking back to the boys when they came out for drinks, remembering them obviously drowning in the clothes, so he quickly opened up his browser, heading onto a local store and ordered a couple of pairs of joggers and t-shirts, a jumper and hoodie each, a few pairs of socks and underwear and a set of PJ’s each, added next day delivery and when that was done, he stopped, looking back over his shoulder and quickly hopping over to the Genkan to see if he could figure out what size shoe to get for Haruto. After looking up shoe sizes by measurement, he added some plain sandshoes each to the order and paid, finally closing down the laptop. 

His brain felt like it was on fire but he had two traumatised kids to look after tomorrow (‘and maybe for a while longer’) so he threw the empty fruit pouch into the bin and went into the hall. Pressing his ear against the boy’s door, he listened to the quiet for a moment before heading to into his bedroom.

After quickly washing and slipping into his PJs, Aizawa laid in bed, staring at the ceiling in the pitch black. He was supposed to be going straight to sleep, that’s what he’d told himself but it wasn’t just the mystery of the 3 year gap for Tou- no, he needed to make sure he didn’t think of the boy as Touya, he was Haruto now. Anyway, his story was filled with mystery but strangely enough, things weren’t quite adding up for Izuku either. The police had dismissed it despite the fact that no source of the fire was found in the inspection. They assumed Izuku died in the fire after finding tiny charred remains of clothing inside the bed but that itself added more mystery, had Izuku grabbed more clothing on his way out? It didn’t make sense. And on top of that, a fire of that devastation would have left severe scars and yet from what he’d seen, the boy had none. Was he not even home at the time of the fire? Slipped out without telling his mum perhaps, leaving his PJs in bed? But the fire was reported to have started around 2am so if he wasn’t at home, where was he? 

He shook his head, physically trying to shake the swirling chaos in his mind. Turning onto his side, eyes on the door he slowly began to drift, focusing on the sound of his breathing, tuning out the rest of the thoughts in his mind.

It barely seemed like he’d shut his eyes when a gentle knocking woke him but a quick glance at his watch showed that he’d been asleep for about 4 hours.

“One sec, I’m coming” his voice sounded rough, thick with sleepiness. He had a sip of water and cleared his throat before slowly pulling the door open.

In the hallway stood a very timid looking Haruto “I’m so sorry Mr Aizawa” 

The teen’s eyes betrayed a wild fear so he quickly held his hands up in surrender “Its absolutely fine Haruto, what’s wrong? Is it Izuku?”

The boy nodded “He was whimpering and shaking, when I felt his head it was warm and sweaty. You said about his medicine wearing off, so… I’m very sorry for waking you”

“No you did good, I’m proud of you for looking out for your brother” as soon as the words slipped out he wondered if it was odd of him to say he was proud when he’d not even known the boy for a single day but the absolute look of bewilderment and maybe even slight joy made him realise how starved for compliments and parental affection the poor kid was. “I’ll grab the thermometer and meds, can you gently wake him for me please.”

“Yes sir umm I mean M-Mr Aizawa” Haruto stuttered a little in embarrassment and scampered off into the spare room to wake his brother.

Chapter Text

“Zu… hey Zu” Haruto gently shook his brothers shoulder, biting his lip when Izuku sobbed as he woke up.

“Sss s’my h-head hurtsss” the boy shivered as he very slowly pushed himself to sit up.

“I know, Mr Aizawa is getting you some more meds” he reached over to the drawers and grabbed Izuku’s water from the top, helping the younger boy grasp it in shaky hands “Drink a little for me ok?” He watched the boy take several sips, worrying about him being ill, thinking about how bad this would have been if the hero hadn’t found them. His eyes started stinging with the desire to cry. He didn’t want to go back on the streets, maybe if they behaved really well, didn’t get in Mr Aizawa’s way, maybe even helped by cooking dinner and things then they could be useful and they wouldn’t be thrown away.

“How are you boys doing?” A voice called from just outside of the door “is it ok to come in?”

“Its your home Mr Aizawa, you don’t need to ask” Haruto replies, disbelief colouring his voice. Was the hero really that considerate? His dad had never asked before coming into his room… ‘why am I thinking about that bastard? It shows doesn’t it? How much of a disgraceful human he was? Or was it just that he thought we weren’t worthy of respect of any kind? Just failed products, rejects, not the fucking chosen-‘

“No that’s not true, you little boys deserve privacy, I’m not going to deny you that, you deserve decency and I refuse to barge into your space.” Aizawa cut through his spiralling thoughts like a hot knife through butter, saying all the right things “And this is your space while you stay here, the bathroom too. So long as you’re not hurt or needing help, I’ll never push into your space without permission. Do you understand?”

Haruto sat wide eyed, slack jawed ‘he’s so good, so nice, do I really deserve this?’ This time it was Izuku who cut in, grabbing the teen’s hand with as much strength as he could muster “T-thank you Mmmmr Aizz Aizawa.” 

Both teens looked up as he entered the room quietly, worry etched on his face. “Oh little one” the hero crouched down, feeling Izuku’s forehead “You’re not feeling too good huh? I’m sorry you’re feeling rough” he pushed the hand up into Izuku’s hair, gently scratching the boy’s scalp. 

Izuku let out another sob, rubbing his eyes and wincing at the pain.

Haruto watched silently, sadness and confusion reigning in his exhausted mind. So he just sat there, studying the way Aizawa was tender and gentle ‘Men can be gentle? Heroes can be gentle?’ He noted how he spoke softly, reassuring his brother, telling him that it was going to be ok, it would get better ‘No booming voice, not telling him he’s pathetic, not stomping off and leaving him to fend for himself.’ He saw Aizawa open a muesli bar and break off a small piece, nodding as he lifted it to Izuku’s mouth ‘He’s feeding him? Is that normal? Providing like that?’

“You’re very quiet there Haruto, are you feeling ok? You’re not feeling ill or hot are you?”

He met the hero’s eyes, accidentally flinching when he was offered some of the muesli bar “N-no” ‘Shit, I stuttered, is he going to hit me!?’

“Hey, it’s ok. I’m not going to hurt you.” He said so softly that Haruto wanted to melt, this was so confusing “I just wanted to get some food into Izuku before giving him some more medicine but if you’re hungry, there’s plenty of food.”

“Umm I’m ok Mr Aizawa”

“T-t-this isss m-more food then w-we’ve had in a-a-aaagesss” Izuku shivered and tried to laugh to cover it up. But Haruto thought it just sounded so damn sad that he practically threw himself at his brother, wrapping him up in his arms. He wanted to cry, he wanted to cry so damn much but it hurt and his stupid eyes didn’t work. Izuku probably felt his distress and started trying to breathe deeply, rubbing circles on his back. 

Brrrruuuupp

The three turned to the door as Tuna sauntered in, pushing straight into the small gap between the boys, sitting on Haruto’s lap. Izuku sat back and laughed a little, both of them petting and scratching the cat as it started purring loudly. 

“Here you go, one more bite of this bar then take these tablets ok? And then it’s sleep time. There’s still a couple of hours before its morning and I want you boys resting” Aizawa passed the lump of bar and the tablets to Izuku, then pushed himself up, groaning as he did so.

“You’re n-not thhhat old Zawa, g-groaning lllllike an old m-m-man” Izuku laughed through his stutters as he laid back down, missing the look of absolute panic in his brother’s eyes.

‘What are you doing?! He’s going to beat us! We can’t-‘ Haruto’s terror was bought to a stop instantly as the hero barked out a laugh.

“My knee’s feel like they belong to an old man! I feel like I’m at least 20 years older than I really am! You know, I’m a teacher at UA, I patrol, do hero missions and I work on call out for quirk malfunctions! I’m basically a zombie at the moment” he finished with a soft chuckle.

The teen literally puffed out a sigh of relief “That’s a lot of work Mr Aizawa, you should take care of yourself”

“I tell you what, I’ll take care of all three of us, how’s that sound? I just finished my last big hero mission so I’m pulling back on those now.” The teen enjoyed seeing the hero smiling, it was… nice… confusing still, but nice.

“I wish you’d been there when my quirk came in” Izuku mumbled, making the two look over quickly but Izuku was already asleep, tiny muffled snores creeping out. 

Haruto looked up to the hero who was deeply frowning so he quickly got up and crawled onto his futon, slipping under the covers and gently cleared his throat “He’ll tell you when he’s ready Mr Aizawa. Thank you so much for helping tonight, it… was really kind.”

“Any time kid”

A few hours later he woke up with a jolt, his mouth was dry and his heart was racing. It had been hot, so hot, too hot, the flames too much, he couldn’t stop! But as he looked around, a little light streaming in from the curtains overhead, he realised where he was. He probably felt hot from the nightmare… and the incredibly thick plush bedding. The night had certainly been more warm and cosy than any he’d had in the last month. He didn’t know what time it was, but remembered there was a clock on the wall near the kotatsu, maybe he could sneak out and see. 

Looking at Izuku, a smile breached his lips. The boy had little rosy cheeks but he wasn’t sweating, he just looked blissfully asleep and comfy. He didn’t want Izuku to wake up without him there so he wanted to quickly just go see the time, then he’d run right back. So he stood up as quietly as possible, tip toeing in a very theatrical way like how he’d seen his younger brother Natsuo do. He would take wildly big steps, waving his arms in grand circular motions as he tip toed to the freezer on hot days and sneak out icy pops from the very back, the ones the maid would keep hidden from their father. It was silly, being the oldest brother he should have probably taken responsibility for helping out on the days when the ice quirked boy would struggle in the heat but he couldn’t get caught, couldn’t cause disappointment not when he was already starting to be ignored because Shouto was getting the attention. 

He had a venomous sneer on his face as he gripped the door handle, hand starting to flash hot with flame when a little contented sigh came from behind him. He yanked back his hand in horror ‘what am I doing?!’ Looking over his shoulder Izuku was smiling slightly, despite not being awake ‘adorable little shit, even saving me in your sleep Zu.’

With a deep breath, he softly grabbed the handle again, slowly twisting and opening the door. This time, he tried to move like a ninja… no… like Tuna, gentle padding, soft feet. When he got to the living room, the curtains were all still shut, no sign of anyone else being awake. Even Tuna was still asleep, curled up on the recliner. 

“6:20am” he whispered and turned around to head back to his room but stopping dead in his tracks when a sleepy looking Aizawa walked out of his room, stretching and yawning. The hero stopped and looked at the room opposite, where Izuku was still asleep. The door was slightly ajar, but he didn’t go in or even try to look through the gap, instead turning slowly and seeing Haruto standing still in the living room, in a state of panic.

‘Does he think I’m snooping? Trying to steal? Am I bad? Am I in troub-‘

“Mmmornin’ Haruto. Sleep ok?” The hero mumbled and gave a tiny smile, walking with a tired slouch into the room and going straight into the kitchen “Need coffee. M’not exactly a morning person sorry. And I love coffee.” 

Haruto was still silent, obviously horrified, confused, panicked… so he just watched as the hero turned the coffee machine on and quietly grabbed cups from the cupboard “You’re probably too young for coffee but I can do you a tea?” He reached up to the top shelf and pulled down a black box, opened it and put it on top of the kitchen Island. Rubbing his eyes sleepily and not bothering to look at the teen. He continued mid yawn “Haaaaaaaaaaaaave a look… hmmmm… see if there’s a flavour you like. Izuku still asleep?” He turned and grabbed a teaspoon and the jar of sugar, continuing his morning coffee mission.

Haruto subtly moved his hand to pinch the inside of his other arm… ‘nope definitely awake’ “Ummm yeah he’s still asleep… he… was smiling in his sleep” he answered quietly, still not daring to move from his spot.

“Ah well that’s pretty damn adorable… Do you want to go shut the door, I don’t want the coffee machine to wake him up” Aizawa finally looked at Haruto, who by this point had fortunately schooled a look that wasn’t pure terror.

He nodded and went to quickly shut the door, peeking inside to check on Izuku, then headed back to the kitchen “All good Mr Aizawa”

“You know you can just call me Shouta, or Sho… or Zawa like Izuku does. No need to be so formal kid” he said with a small welcoming smile, turning around and pushing the button on the machine, making it hum noisily “So, look at those teas. Unless you want a cold drink?”

Haruto quickly padded over, almost stumbling in his hurry, hoping to not disappoint the hero “Thanks Mr- oh… umm Zawa…” he hummed as he flipped through the selection, pausing when he sees one he recognises “mother….” He whispers as he picks up the packet of Hojicha tea, his voice covered by the hum of the coffee machine. As he walks around the island, Tuna appears, threading his way through Haruto’s legs, softly meowing as he went.

“Ah breakfast time is it” the hero says looking down at the cat and holding out his hand to take the tea “Haruto can you grab Tuna’s plate from that cupboard please, you’ll be able to guess it when you see it”

The teen nods and crouches down, opening up the cupboard and seeing a small saucer with a set of tuna fish designed, swimming across the plate. As he reached forward, the cat came up into his face, meowing loudly, turning and swishing his tail, looping between his knees making him let out a little giggle “Ok ok, you hungry Mr Tuna?”

He passes the plate to Aizawa, who passes his tea over “Sugar and stuff is there if you want it. I’m just going to feed this demon, then check my emails and stuff, then I’ll get cracking with breakfast ok?”

Haruto pauses ‘should I offer to help? Then he might think I’m useful… but Izuku is alone…’

“If you want to wait with Izuku you can, I understand if you’re worried ok? And honestly, don’t look so panicked. Everything is going to be ok… I’m not… making you uncomfortable or anything am I?”

The teen quickly shook his head “No Sir! Sh… uhh Zawa, sorry. It’s just…” he bit his lip and looked over his shoulder “I want to help, I want to be useful but I don’t want Izuku to wake up alone…”

Aizawa popped the plate of Tuna on the floor for the cat then walked over, a soft expression on his face “Haruto, you’re a kid. You don’t have to be concerned about anything like that. I want you and your brother to feel safe and happy here. So you focus on keeping warm, getting your strength up and looking out for Izuku. It’s my job as an adult and a hero to make you feel cared for, if you want to help me and Izuku doesn’t need you at the time, then I’ll gladly welcome your company… especially because….” He paused to take a few gulps of coffee, sighing with a look of pure contentment “I can’t cook… I’m terrible at cooking. I can burn water” the hero smirked making the teen feel a soft fuzzy comfort that just felt… long lost, perhaps.

“Well I liked to help out sometimes in the kitchen with my mo…” he stopped with a frown, his face falling flat at the onslaught of memories that were at this point, years ago. “I’ll go sit with Izuku Sir- uh Zawa but thank you… for everything” and with that he wondered off, steaming tea in his hand and a vague, blank look on his face.

Chapter Text

Izuku woke up feeling deliciously warm, he started wondering if he was laying on a cloud… a sunny day cloud. His toes and fingers were warm and that’s an odd sensation to wake up to after so so long. Memories begin to trickle back in from the previous night and the middle of the night wake up. ‘Haruto…’ he turns over to see the teen sat up in the futon behind him, sipping the last of his drink, staring off into space.

He’s feeling an odd bubbling energy, like a small part of him is itching to jump up and binky like a rabbit. ‘Maybe it’s Zawa’s medicine, giving me the urge to do zoomies…’ He dampens the feeling, then with a yawn and a quiet mumble he pushes himself to sit up “What time is it?”

“Ah… I think just before 7… how are you feeling?” 

Izuku noisily licks his lips, hums and yawns again “M’ok… Zawa awake yet?”

“Yeah, me made me tea. Said he just had a few things to do then he’d sort breakfast out”

Izuku rubbed his face and stared at Haruto suspiciously, ‘somethings wrong’ he thought. But he wasn’t sure what to do, how to ask. He’d seen this happen before, usually when Izuku hadn’t been there to pull him out before he gets so deeply lost in memories, worries, hatred… so something must have triggered him. “Hey…” he slowly reached out and touched Haruto’s arm, thankful that the teen didn’t flinch “What happened, what made you… sad?”

Haruto frowned and finally turned to him, looking conflicted “I…”

“Please” Izuku pushed back the bedding and scooted over, knees against the teen’s thigh  “‘Ruto c’mon… tell me…”

“He offered me tea and… and…” Haruto’s breathing was picking up “My mother she- she used to give me this tea… and we talked about helping him cook… b-because Zawa can’t cook” Izuku began rubbing circles at the top of his back, something he often did to calm him down “She… she liked it when I helped her cook.” 

Izuku could see how the teen was hurting, not just emotionally. Haruto would occasionally bleed from his eyes if he got too worked up because of his damaged tear ducts and right now the boy was frantically rubbing them, shaking slightly as if sobbing.

“What happened to her Zu? She… I didn’t see her at the house… what did he do to her…. What did he DO” the teen growled at the end.

Izuku threaded his fingers through Haruto’s hair, desperately trying to calm him down “We’ll find out, she might have just been at the shops, she might have got away, we don’t know. But we’ll find out…. Maybe Zawa will help us” the teen flinched back “No don’t be like that… lets just… get through today ok?” the two sat silently for a moment, Haruto calming down considerably before Izuku gets a calculating look on his face “Hey… I’ll bet all the pork buns ever that Zawa hates Endeavor just as much as we do.” He looks up at the ceiling, calculating look that morphs slowly into a grin “I’ll… I’ll eat a whole lemon, skin too if he likes Endeavor” 

When he pulls back Haruto is smirking “A whole lemon? 100% of a lemon, the entire thing?”

Izuku smiles widely, the two locked in an intense stare off for a few seconds before Izuku shoots up and dives out of the door, his brother hot on his tail, the two scrapping and shoving to get to the kotatsu first.

“ZAWA!” “Mr Zawa!” Haruto pulled the younger boy into a headlock, effectively shutting him up “Can we ask what’s your opinion of- Offfff” he wheezed as Izuku elbowed him in the guts.

“Endeavor sucks ass right?” Izuku almost shouts, excited and just a little out of breath.

“That’s a leading question! Cheater!” The two boys wrestling as Aizawa watches with a barely contained smile “Lemon! Eat that lemon you cheat! Mr Zawa we need a lemon!”

Izuku huffs, flinging his legs out as the two tumble on the floor “No! I didn’t cheat!!!”

“You DID! Filthy cheat! Lemon for you!” The pair ranted and giggled

“NO!! You eat TUNA”

“I’M NOT EATING THE CAT!” Haruto screeched

The small misunderstanding causes them both to burst out laughing, fits of giggles “Haha I did- pshhhh hahahaha I meant fish haha idiot” “The poor cat Pahahaha” 

After a minute or so of laughing breathlessly Aizawa cleared his throat “You seem to be a little better this morning Izuku” the two looked up with coy smiles and rosy cheeks, pushing up and sitting cross legged on the floor, perhaps a little embarrassed by their theatrics “And for the record, I am NOT a fan of Endeavor. I’m hoping you keep that to yourselves but I think he’s a thug, he causes too much damage and leaves wreckage in his wake that….” The man stops and looks away for a moment, taking a deep breath “Sorry… lets just leave it at that”

The two boys look stunned “Wow…” Izuku looks at his brother with a wide smile “No lemons for me! I win! You eat the lemon!” He shouts as the wrestling resumes.

“That wasn’t the bet! I never said that! And no Tuna, yuck!”

Meow?

The boys stopped wrestling to look at the cat “Sorry Tuna” “Sorry Tuna, I didn’t mean to offend”

Aizawa huffed a little laugh as he went into the kitchen and started going through the cupboards, looking for something suitable to make for breakfast, grumbling to himself. Izuku leaned into his brother’s space “What’s he mumbling about” he whispered.

“I’m mumbling about the lack of food in my apartment. I should do a food order, you boys can help me, make sure we get some stuff you both like.” The hero spoke from his position, bent over looking in the fridge. “I’ll order breakfast to be delivered I guess”

“Nu-uh lemme look” Izuku got up and wondered into the kitchen “Oh and I’m feeling ok this morning thank you, I ummm don’t know when my medicine wears off though” Behind him, Haruto picked up Tuna and curled up with the cat on the recliner. Izuku could practically feel the stress rolling off him so he turned to Aizawa “That’s… its… this is ok right? I’m good in the kitchen or I was… mama was… uhh busy.” he finished with a frown.

“Hey, if you can make something out of what I’ve got, you deserve a medal.” The hero said dryly.

Twenty minutes later Izuku handed out plated omelettes and ham fried rice while the hero poured out orange juice for everyone. Both boys looked giddy as they sat with warm breakfast at the kotatsu.

“Hi, my name is Izuku, I’m Musutafu’s newest hero… quirk - can make breakfast from anything” the green haired boy laughed while his brother cheered.

“Debuting in the top ten with these eggs” added Haruto as he shoved in a mouthful, steam puffing out of his mouth as he chewed "Whatcha calling' it?"

"Noms from Nothin'" he giggles “You think there are loadsa weird food quirks? Like the ability to turn porridge into Katsudon? Lunch rush makes meals super fast but can you imagine the ability to produce food out of thin air? Or would it have to come from something, like an energy conversion quirk, like turning poop into food, would you eat food if it was poop turned into food? I don’t think I could get past that or if someone could lay chicken eggs would they have to poop them out and if you ate them would they actually be human eggs and its cannibalism…” Izuku paused and looked at the other two “oh… ummm”

The hero was sat, silent, fork halfway to his mouth. Haruto was literally biting his lip to stop bursting out laughing

“Anyway… yeah…”

The three ate in somewhat comfortable silence for a few minutes until Aizawa spoke up

“Oh I meant to ask… I saw Haruto’s quirk but I don’t know yours Izuku” The boys froze “I mean, last night you said you wished I’d have been there when it manifested”

“I said that huh?” Izuku whispered, putting down his fork and extending his slightly shaking hand out to grab his drink.

“Hey if you don’t want to talk about it, we don’t have to.” 

Izuku looked up with teary eyes, not daring to speak “Umm… yeah… I’m not…”

“I also forgot to tell you, I ordered you kids some clothes, they’ll be here this morning. I noticed you were both practically swimming in those ones” 

Izuku almost collapsed with the relief at being offered a way out of the quirk conversation. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to talk about that yet. He wanted to but at the same time, he was scared, his quirk ruined his life, killed his mother, yet for a long time it was all he’d wanted, unfortunately the reality of it was messy. And now here he was, with his favourite hero, sitting around eating a warm meal, sat at the warm table, waiting to have new clothing delivered. Why shouldn’t he tell him, he wouldn’t… he wouldn’t throw Izuku in jail for murdering his mother would he. 

This time it was Haruto who saved him from spiralling panic “Wow Mr Zawa, that’s… that’s so generous. You really… I mean we… I…”

“Boys… I want to help you. Please.” The hero had put down his fork and was looking between the two, a soft look on his face.

“Thank you Zawa” Izuku whispered “We are so grateful… Me and Haruto, we have nothing. My… my family are dead and…” he looked over to his brother who had a weary look in his eyes hinting that he wanted his story to remain vague for the time being “And Haruto’s family moved on without him. We are alone…”

“You don’t have to be, not anymore”

The trio finished up breakfast, the boys moving to sit in front of the tv and watch cartoons while Aizawa went and showered before marking school work at the kotatsu. Haruto had insisted on tidying up and washing all the dishes, the hero commented that Izuku cooking and Haruto cleaning felt like he’d won the lottery.

Around 9am Izuku seemed to go back down hill as the meds wore off, quietening down his previously constant chatter about the cartoon characters. And just as it had been during the night, Aizawa was there, hand feeding him small bites of food and giving him the tablets with his glass of water. It wasn’t long after that he fell asleep, curled up on the couch, Haruto at the other end with Tuna on his lap. 

“Are you missing work today Zawa? Your phone’s going off a lot…” Haruto asked quietly

“Ah yeah, I phoned in sick- No don’t get that panicked look. I’m allowed to take a day off, besides my boss was fine, I talked to him last night” The hero waved his hand dismissively and turned back to his work “Only problem is my idiot friends at work messaging me in the group chat” 

Haruto watched with an amused face as the man ignored the buzzing, occasionally nudging the phone further away as if that would just make it magically disappear.

Around 10:30am the clothing was delivered, Izuku waking up with the knocking of the door. And just as before, boundless energy coursed through his tiny body with all semblance of illness disappearing. 

Aizawa dropped the large wrapped bundle and two shoe boxes on the coffee table “Go nuts” he mumbled before trudging into the kitchen to make more coffee. The two boys hurried off to dress in more size appropriate clothing. When they reappeared, both were smiling widely “Zawa!!” “Thank you!!” they cheered when they entered the room.

“No problem boys” he said with a small smile as he lifted the steaming coffee mug to his lips.

The rest of the day was pretty chilled. The rest of the new clothes were all quickly washed and either hung out or put in the tumble dryer. Aizawa had lunch delivered, Izuku practically dancing around the room when the Katsudon was plated in front of him, Haruto once again becoming quiet and contemplative at the bowl of steaming hot soba noodles. A food order from the supermarket was placed, the hero insisting that they get plenty of snacks and ingredients to make their favourite meals. But other than that, the boys mostly sat and watched tv.

Around 4pm there was a loud knock on the door making all three tense up. 

“Shooooooooo! I bought you soup open up!!” Yamada called from outside the door.

“Shit” the hero stood up, looking at the two boys who looked pale as sheets “Hey… don’t worry, you two, grab your drinks, go hang out in your bedroom for a bit ok? Its just my work friend, he’s noisy but nice ok? Please, Trust me.”

The two boys nodded before frantically sprinting off down the hall and closing the door behind them. Haruto instantly ran into the corner of the room, sliding down the wall, bring in his knees up. He was staring at the door with wild frantic panic in his eyes, Izuku silently ran over and whispered in his ear “Its… its ok right?”

Haruto grabbed him and pulled him close, then leant forward and grabbed the futon and bedding, pulling it up in front of them to make a shield or maybe just something to hide behind “What if they barge in and… I don’t want to go back to Endeavor Zu!” He whispered frantically, directly into Izuku’s ear to be as quiet as possible

“Nooo I don’t want you to… I’ll be alone, they’d throw me out of an orphanage back onto the streets for being a killer” he whimpered

The boys flinched as they heard Aizawa speak louder from the front of the apartment, he’d been talking but it mostly sounded like low rumbling mumbles from where they were “Like I said, I really appreciate the visit… I just really need rest, swing by on Sunday if you really want to check on me”

The boys looked at each other wide eyed, waiting silently

“And don’t tell Nemuri I’m sick ok? I don’t want her barging in here and nagging me”

“Who’s nemuri? Is it the name of a hero?” Haruto whispered

Izuku shook his head, shrugging jerkily.

A different, booming voice called out “Right, well so long as you’re keeping your fluids up Sho!” Izuku whimpered, pushing further into his brother’s embrace as the mystery man continued “Your students missed you today!”

“Don’t lie. See you after the weekend Zash”

“Bye-“

The front door slammed and the two immediately tensed up. Every step they heard out of the room had them flinching… ‘this is it right? The good times of the last 24 hours is over, but I don’t feel well yet, I don’t want-’

A gentle knock on the boy’s door made them flinch “Coast is clear guys” 

Izuku started sobbing, the shaking picking up and getting worse as the seconds ticked by. Haruto pulled him closer to him, his arms strong around him. 

Chapter Text

“Shooooooooo! I bought you soup open up!!” Yamada called from outside the door.

“Shit” he stood up and looked at the two boys ‘Great, more things for them to stress about’ “Hey… don’t worry, you two, grab your drinks, go hang out in your bedroom for a bit ok? Its just my work friend, he’s noisy but nice ok? Please, Trust me.”

The two boys nodded before frantically sprinting off down the hall and closing the door. Once that was done, he flicked his eyes quickly around the room, nothing was really out of place but he was going to try keep the voice hero out anyway so he went to the door and unlocked it.

“Zash, I appreciate the visit but I’d rather just sleep” he said as he stood in the doorway.

“Awww Sho come on… lemme in, I can take care of youuuuu” the blonde whined.

“No”

“Shoooooooo”

“No”

The two stood, standoffish at the door, neither seeming to budge when something caught the blonde’s eye. Confusion spread across his face so Aizawa tracked his vision.

‘The fucking shoes’

“Umm Sho…. Who-“ 

Aizawa quickly stopped him with a hand over his mouth, keeping it there as he slowly pulled his phone out of his pocket and began texting the man, Yamada leaning forward to look at the message as he typed it

Shouta: I took in two homeless kids last night. They DO NOT trust heroes. Nezu has been working with me to find their identities and I’m trying to help them.

“Right” he said overly loudly “Like I said, I really appreciate the visit” 

Shouta: Do not announce that you know they are here. DO NOT tell anyone!

He continued “I just really need rest, swing by on Sunday if you really want to check on me”

Shouta: I have to gain their trust so I can help them. So please, just go. I’ll be in touch.

“And don’t tell Nemuri I’m SICK ok? I don’t want her barging in here and nagging me”

The two exchanged knowing glances, Hizashi nodded, passing him the bag of potted soups and responding theatrically “Right, well so long as you’re keeping your fluids up Sho! Your students missed you today!” He smirked

“Don’t lie. See you after the weekend Zash”

“Bye-“ the blonde called out as the door was slammed in his face.

Aizawa sighed as he turned, scooting the kids shoes to the side and hiding them behind his boots before heading to the hallway. He gently knocked on the boy’s door “Coast is clear guys” but there was no response and when he pressed his ear to the door he could hear gentle sobs “Boys, its ok, its just me now… Can I come in?…” Still no response “I’m going to open the door… I’ll do it nice and slow, you call out if you don’t want me to ok?”

Again no response came so he very slowly started to turn the knob and gently, inch by inch he pushed “Its Aizawa, its just Zawa coming in, nobody else is here I promise”

Once he had it open about a foot, he peeked inside and in the corner, with the bedding pulled up in front of them, huddled two boys, clinging on to each other, faces wrought with distress.

The sight made his chest clench, he carried on pushing the door, quickly getting onto his knees to be at their level before snuffling forwards “Izuku, Haruto, its going to be ok”

“P-please” Izuku sobbed “I don’t want t-to go” his fists clenched into Haruto’s sleeves as his arm pulled tighter.

“Oh Izuku, no you don’t have to go back on the streets.” He knelt back into his heels, sitting at arms length from the pair. “If I’m honest, I don’t want either of you to go back to that ever again. I promise we can work something out… besides, Tuna would be really pissy at me if you boys left, especially Haruto. Plus who’s going to teach me the best way to cook Katsudon huh?” He held open his arms, unsure if it was the right thing to do but the thought barely left his head before Izuku was barrelling forward for a cuddle, Haruto timidly pushing forward and clinging onto and hugging his brother’s back.

Everyone sighed and slumped down a little in relief as Aizawa reached out, encircling both boys in his arms. Things were going to work out, he’d promised.

After the stress of Hizashi’s visit, the three decided to huddle up with blankets (and a cat) on the couch and discussing which movie to put on the TV. 

Izuku was currently laid upside down, with his head slightly dangling over the front of the cushions and feet hanging over the top “I want to watch Big Hero 6 but the trauma of Tadashi is too much for me right now”

“Who?”

Izuku looked up at Haruto like he’d grown an extra head making him stifle a laugh “Yeah sorry Izuku… I don’t know that one either…”

The small boy tumbled back off the couch and stood up with his hands on his hips, shaking his head in faux disappointment “a crime against humanity”

Haruto laughed “I’ve seen… ummm… that girl that goes off to fight a war for her dad? but girls weren’t allowed in the army… ummm, there’s a small dragon…”

“Oh for f… Mulan. Of course your shit head dad-“

“Language”

“Of course he’d allow that in the collection of movies… to be fair though, some of the songs are bangers…” the smaller boy said as he scratched his jaw

Aizawa got up at this point, the eye rolling was actually giving him a headache but at least the small peals of laughter soothed the ache in his soul “You two… pick what you like while I heat up the food Zashi bought over”

Standing in the kitchen as the food spun in the microwave, he watched the two over the kitchen island. It was intense how quickly they both seemed to descend into panic. Izuku’s fears obviously centred on being left alone, ending back on the streets and maybe… something to do with the night of his mothers death? It was only logical.

Haruto was a different kettle of fish, throughout the day, especially when Izuku hadn’t been there, the boy seemed to flit between confusion over simple kind gestures and absolute panic about god knows what. During the night, despite the tiredness that had zapped him, he’d noticed how unsure the teen looked when he was feeding Izuku before giving him his meds and he absolutely didn’t miss Haruto’s immense terror when Izuku made fun of his apparently ancient knees. It was like he was expecting the hero to turn into a vicious monster. It shone a light on what home life with Endeavor must have been like and he didn’t like it one bit.

He carried on dishing out the soup, breaking up the bread buns to put on the side. His phone had been going batshit since Hizashi left but he was purposely ignoring it. He could deal with all that later.

“Haruto, can you help me carry these over, we can just set them on the coffee table.”

“Coming!” The boy hopped up, enthusiastically depositing Tuna on Izuku’s lap.

The two carried over the three bowls and big plate of broken up bread, Aizawa quickly heading back to grab the three glasses of water before shimmying into a spare sleeping bag and slumping down to the left of Izuku on the corner of the couch “So did you pick a movie?”

Izuku nodded almost violently in excitement “Monsters Inc! No daddy issues-“ Haruto butted in with a scoff “No dead brothers… lots of bright colours and textures for numostimulation”

‘So damn cute’

“Neurostimulation”

“Yeah that one.”

Izuku and Haruto ended up passing out just before the movie finished, the younger boy probably from having another dose of medicine. Thankfully he’d insisted on pausing the movie as soon as they’d finished eating so the boys could wash up and change into their new PJ’s. He’d even turned off most of the lights, the only ones on were the small lamp beside the kotatsu and the little colour changing light strip under the coffee table that Hizashi had bought him… and installed when it sat in a box on the kitchen counter for 6 weeks. So the room had a nice warm glow, perfect for snoozing.

He didn’t really want to move them but at the same time, sleeping all nice and cosy in bed would be a much better sleep surely? So he got up as quietly as possible and went into the boy’s room, making the beds again after the panic of earlier had kind of tossed everything around. He changed into his night clothes, got ready for bed and came back out to the couch. He then stood there feeling like this was some kind of dramatic bomb disposal test, literally just still as a statue, glancing between the boys. He decided to go for Haruto first, the boy had Tuna on his lap so they could go to the bed together ‘Should I wake him or just carry him… maybe both?’

So kneeling down in front of the teen he very gently patted his shoulder “Haruto” he whispered. 

The boy cracked an eye slowly, fingers spreading across Tuna’s fur “Its time for bed kid, do you want me to carry you? It will help you stay asleep and I absolutely don’t mind” he spread the warmest friendliest smile he could manage on his face, feeling like a bit of an idiot because he’s never one for doing that big soft heroic smile. ‘I probably look creepy’

But it worked, Haruto simply nodded and closed his eyes again, so he whispers, describing his movements as he makes them, hoping to keep the boy comfortable. Then softly ambles down the hall and into the bedroom, the teen in his arms like a sleeping princess. After quickly tucking him (and Tuna) into the boys futon, he slipped back out into the living room to get Izuku but stopped in his tracks when he saw the boy sitting up, wide awake but staring off into the distance.

“Izuku?” He sits next to him, quietly enquiring if he’s ok.

“My… umm… my quirk…” he looks up with those big green eyes “I can tell you what happened… if you like?”

Chapter Text

“My… umm… my quirk…” he looks up with those big green eyes “I can tell you what happened… if you like?”

Aizawa almost has to physically stop himself from shouting ‘Fuck yeah!’ Because the boy is trusting him, it’s happening… Not that he would ever show that level of excitement in reality, except where coffee is involved maybe? And cats? 

Izuku shifts a little, looking uncomfortable ’Oh shit, I’ve literally been staring at the kid and not saying anything’

“Ok… I’m here for you, I mean, I’m listening” internal cringing activated ’Idiot… why am I so bad at communicating in emotional situations?’

“I ummm… so… my full name is Izuku Midoriya… I don’t know why I’m starting with that… I said I’d tell you about my quirk, what am I doing?”

“Izuku, its fine, just get it all off your chest, its ok” he gives the boy a tiny soft smile.

“R-right… ok. So… When I was little and my friends started getting quirks… I didn’t… M-my mom was worried I was going to be quirkless… at my appointment on my fifth birthday the doctor said I might get a quirk because I didn’t have something… umm” Izuku stared up at the ceiling trying to remember something “I don’t know, it was an x-ray of my feet… but then… it- my quirk didn’t come in. Even when my… when he… I…”

“Take a deep breath, its ok, you’re safe here”

“He would… he s-started hurting me, he said trauma could bring out a umm my quirk. He- he said he was helping me when he beat me… burnt me. My mom, she just… went quiet… Dad left eventually, business trip or something… he never came back. Mom just took up more shifts. Went to bed extra early y’know” he shrugged, still looking at the floor.

Aizawa was grateful that the boy wasn’t looking at him while he told his story, quite frankly the demonic look of pure rage on his face might have scared the boy. ‘I’m going to find his dad and fucking-‘

“Things were… ok for a while… school was… not so great I guess… But it was ok, I wa- I was fine! Then about a year ago… I was dreaming about flying” Izuku looked over to him with a wobbly smile, trapped in a memory as Aizawa schooled a blank expression onto his face “It was like dancing in the air… it was warm, the breeze was warm and breathing was… light and free and it just felt nice… to start with… then it almost felt like the air around me was getting a bit heavy, like flying was getting tiring…” 

He felt a strange sense of foreboding, an anxiety that was gently rising like water soaking up into a sponge “Did you wake up?”

“Yes… everything was on fire. Everything. The bed or what was left of it, the drawers, even the carpet. It looked like it had been burning for a while too, like everything was black, the curtains were gone, the bedding and mattress. And you know the first thing I thought” he chuckled, looking down to his fiddling fingers “It didn’t feel hot, maybe I had a fire resistance quirk… maybe dad’s training had worked… so stupid”

A bitterness made his mouth twist “That wasn’t training, it was abuse Izuku” he struggled not to growl “And its not stupid, that amount of fire would have produced a ridiculous amount of heat and smoke… so… what happened next”

“When I looked down to check if I had any burns… there was nothing - no I don’t mean no burns… I had no body… no arms no legs, nothing”

He frowned, what was his quirk then?

“I was flying… I felt it then when I wasn’t thinking about the fire and the smoke, I was flapping… I had wings… made of fire” Izuku took a deep shuddery breath “I flew out into the hallway, the- umm my door was mostly burnt out… so I went to the bathroom and in the mirror… I looked in the mirror and… I was a butterfly… completely made of fire.”

“…That’s…” he couldn’t help how raised his eyebrows were “That sounds very beautiful” ‘is that a stupid thing to say? Shit…’

“Hehe I thought so, it was I mean… I was about the size of your hand. I can still picture it, I’ve always wanted to look up what type of butterfly it- uh I was…” Izuku then grew solemn “But then I remembered mom… I flew through the fire, it didn’t burn at all! But I had no voice, I-I was shouting but it was only in my head, I had no no-no I…she… the firemen burst though the door with hoses and I panicked - I thought, what if they sprayed me, would I die? So I flew away back to where the bathroom window had this mesh… and I pushed and pressed against it and when it melted I got out” Izuku was breathing faster, hands gripped into fists holding the couch blanket “I was so frightened” he sobbed “I thought I was going t-to die”

He couldn’t take it anymore “Izuku come here kid, d’you want a hu-“ but Izuku cut him off as he shoved forward into his welcoming embrace “I-I hid under the concrete stairway in the apartment block b-because everything I touched kept s-setting on-on fire and I didn’t want them to put me out” the boy kept pushing out stuttered sentences in the breaks between sobs and he didn’t know if he should just let the poor kid get it all out or tell him to take a break and calm down “I saw them pull out my moms body, they said she was dead, sh-she she was all charred and black and and the neighbour he-he he said ‘oh the poor mom, it was probably that useless quirkless kid’s fault’” Izuku put on a deeper voice as he mimicked the man.

“Well that guy sounds like a jerk” he said as he rubbed circles into Izuku’s back, a move he’d seen the kid use on his big brother.

“He was” Izuku did a wet laugh, his sobs quieting down “I stayed o-out of sight, all the while trying to talk, trying to turn it off. Then Al-… a hero turned up and… well I thought he’d be different, he’s well- he was one of my favourites but when the firemen said ‘oh its just some quirkless kid we haven’t found’ he- he left. Like he had more important things to do, like finding me didn’t matter-”

“Which hero?” he didn’t hide the growl from his voice that time

Izuku snapped up to look him in the eyes, pulling back from the hug “Oh n-n-no, it- no, it d-doesn’t matter”

He sat back a little, he knew he shouldn’t press it but he’s got a dad, a neighbour, a fire fighter AND a hero to find and kill. Well maybe not kill… but put in jail at least… maybe rough up a bit first. “Izuku… I won’t push you to talk about it but I need you to understand that what they said, what that hero did… its wrong. Quirk or no quirk, its our job to save lives and protect people. That neighbour, that fire fighter and that hero are wrong, what they said is discrimination and its so damn disgusting. You deserve so much more than that bullshit”

“Language”

“Cheeky” he smirked “… do you want to carry on?” Izuku looked down at his hands and nodded “Ok, I’m listening… so what happened after that?”

“Well, I hid… for days under those stairs. I was frightened that someone would try and I don’t know, stomp on me to put me out… and then it rained for a day or two-“

“Wait… what…” he shook his head in confusion “You were still a fire butterfly… what about eating, drinking… sleeping, going to the toilet, you know…”

“I didn’t need any of that… fire just needs ummm… oxygen I think… I don’t know… I wasn’t hungry, cold, tired… anything. After it stopped raining I flew around, mostly at night… I started trying to look for somewhere quiet to live if I could turn it off… if… and umm… I went to my moms and… and my funeral. It was an accident to be honest, I was looking for somewhere to live when I saw someone… my moms friend and her son, my school fr-… umm someone from school. They were… he said…”

Sensing another imminent breakdown he tried to get the kid to move on “We can talk about that another time if you like” Izuku nodded “So where did you go?”

“I went around the whole area, I tried to avoid the rain… it felt like… ummm I guesssss” Izuku looked up at the ceiling again, poking his tongue out of the side of his mouth “Oh like pins and needles! So yeah, I tried to stay under stairways, in alleyways…I saw a lot of… bad things at night but I don’t know… about a couple of months ago I found that building” Izuku looked up again, not noticing the shock on his face at finding out he was a goddamn butterfly that couldn’t talk, eat or sleep for around 10 fucking months “I don’t know if you saw it but running along the back was a river that separates the buildings from the residential zone and well… one day as I was coming out there was a super strong gust of wind and I… I flapped so hard, I was so scared… but it- I just got dumped in the river.” Izuku took a deep calming breath “When I swam up to the surface… I was… it was me, I mean, I was back to normal. So I ran into the housing area and grabbed-“

Izuku looked up in panic, mouth opening and closing like a fish

“Hey, it’s fine, you just did what you needed to do to survive ok?”

“I got some clothes and well… I went back to my old place and got my shoes, used some broken glass to cut the ends open because they were a bit small… then I just… tried to survive.”

Aizawa’s mind was spinning, that talk was… a lot. After the kid had finished talking, they sat in silence, Izuku had eventually slumped back into his arms, initially for a cuddle before passing out from exhaustion. He felt a desperate need to keep this boy safe and comfortable, he’d be better getting a solid nights sleep in bed, with his brother close by (and Tuna apparently). So he carried him to his room and tucked him into his futon, looking over to Haruto who was adorably curled up on his side, hugging Tuna like a teddy bear. He’s actually amazed at how the teen and the cat have just gravitated towards each other. As if Tuna knows he needs different care and attention, not that Izuku hasn’t been through some hardships because by god he has, but he seems to have a much better handle on every day life. Whereas Haruto has some deep psychological trauma, something that he hopes they can figure out how to overcome. 

He quietly steps out of the room, leaving the door a tiny bit ajar so the cat can escape if he needs to. Then gently pads over to the kotatsu, grabbing his silenced phone from the counter as he passes. 

Jeez… Hizashi: 7 texts, Nemuri: 2 texts, Group Chat: 37 messages, 1 missed call from Tsukauchi, 1 voicemail from Tsukauchi, Nezu: 2 texts.

He groans and turns back around, heading into the kitchen for a drink ‘coffee? Hot chocolate?… maybe whiskey??’

He’s grateful for the inherent heat retention qualities of living in a well insulated apartment, it means that sitting at the kotatsu sipping a glass of whiskey with 2 ice cubes feels nicely relaxing. After a couple of deep breaths, he unlocks his phone.

'Urgh’

Hizashi: Oh my god

Hizashi: How old are they, can you give me more details

Hizashi: I won’t tell anyone, I just want to know

Hizashi: Is there anyone we need to track down and… y’know… punch a little…

Hizashi: Sho, come on, you can’t leave me hanging like this

Hizashi: Shoooooooooooooo

Hizashi: Oh come on Sho, please

‘Ughhhhhhh’

Nemuri: I heard you’re sick! Have you got everything you need? Just text me if you need anything… anything at all

Nemuri: Don’t forget orgasms produce endorphins… headaches ☆*:~。* Gone!

‘Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh’

Voicemail: “Hey Aizawa, just wanted to let you know the restaurants didn’t call last night and a lil birdy told me you left your patrol shift early too *the man chuckled quietly* anyways, let me know if you need any help. Talk to you soon”

‘Hmmm might take you up on that… got some assholes to fuck up’

Nezu: How are the boys today? I’m very looking forward to meeting them. Still not getting much detail on young Todoroki. But I’ve pulled up plenty on little Midoriya, reports from one Alderra Elementary school - I’ve looked extensively into them and am quite looking forward to start the process of getting that place burned to the ground; Got a few hospital records and things too. Some doctored information on the fire reports from the night of the accident as well. I’d very much like for us to discuss this further in person.

Nezu: Oh and I found the younger boy’s father. Hisashi Midoriya was an alias, Hisashi Miyuka, small time arms dealer with the Yakuza, died in a raid almost 3 years ago. I’ve emailed the files.

‘Ah shit. No sweet vengeance’

Aizawa: Thanks for the info. The boys have been up and down, there’s a lot of trauma that needs to be addressed. Izuku opened up to me tonight. Quirk didn’t come in at the usual time. Father beat him, mother neglected him, I suspected bullying and stuff at school so I’m not surprised by your info. His quirk manifested while he was asleep and caused the fire, he couldn’t turn it off so he hid. He turns into a butterfly made of fire. He spent roughly ten months like that. I’ve not seen it yet, I suspect he is too scared to use it, it only turned off when he accidentally fell into a river. The fire fighters, neighbours and a hero on the scene need to be tracked down and charged with discrimination. I’m going to try talk to the boys some more tomorrow.

Nezu: Oh what an incredible sounding quirk, I’m most intrigued. I’ll leave you to it for tonight, but I’d really like it if when you came back to UA on Monday, you brought the boys along. You’ve still got tomorrow and Sunday to work on that.

‘Great, no pressure’

Aizawa: OK

He dumped his phone on the table, not even bothering to think about the goddamn group chat. ’37 messages… fuck all that.’ He looked over to the wall clock 8:27pm… this could be the earliest he’s ever been to bed but he’s got the boys to take care of and last night wasn’t exactly a solid night’s sleep so he could do with repaying some of that debt.

Chapter Text

Izuku woke with a start, lunging forward with his hands around his throat, heart beating like a frantic drum in his chest. He padded the bedding around him in some subconscious panic that everything would be on fire but it was safe. The fact that it was still dark meant it was probably the middle of the night. All the talk about his quirk appearance pulled the whole thing forward into his nightmares. So he leant over to grab his water and gulped it down, happily extinguishing non-existent flames. 

It seemed like his illness was pretty much gone, the weird cloudiness in his head and occasional rampant fevers had dissipated. So he was left with his usual weird o’clock brain activity “I wonder if Tuna has a quirk…” he quietly mumbled. He yawned and licked his lips a couple of times, looking around the dark room ’what time is it? I really want to know…. What if its like 5:50am, is there really any point in going to sleep again? But if its closer to 2am then I can go back to snoozeville’ he sighed. There really was nothing to it, he HAD to get up and find out the time. Maybe he can offer to do some odd jobs for Aizawa for some pocket money so he could buy a cheap watch… ‘wait… he’s not my dad, he’s not going to give me pocket money…’ “Pft as if dad ever gave me pocket money, asshole” he whispered to himself as he crawled up out of his bedding. 

As he stood and reached for the door, he halted suddenly. He remembered that he was on the couch with Zawa, not in bed… Izuku frowned and turned around, looking at Haruto… and Tuna who was sprawled across his chest. It made him feel warm and fuzzy inside to know that his brother had found maybe a kindred spirit in the cat and also that Zawa was taking care of them so perfectly. With a smile on his face he stepped out into the hallway and on into the living room. The little strip light under the coffee table was still on so it wasn’t pitch black but it still made him feel uneasy, wandering around the hero’s apartment on his own while the man presumably slept felt wrong.

“2:24am… ok ok… brain, you need to shut up now…” 

He plodded back to the bedroom, drinking a sip of water on his way past the dresser but as he sat back down onto the futon there was a grumble from his side.

“Wh… time is it Zu?” Haruto rasped, still laying down, threading fingers through Tuna’s fur.

“About half two… sorry for waking you oniichan” Izuku sits cross legged on the bedding, fiddling with his fingers “I uhhh… I told Zawa about my quirk… told him my name and all that…”

Haruto doesn’t flinch or get upset like Izuku was afraid he would, he doesn’t even open his eyes… instead he just hums as he pets Tuna. After a minute or so he whispers, voice still raspy with sleep “Mm glad you opened up t’him… Zawa said-“ he stopped to yawn “-he promised things’d work out. Said he di’n’t wan’ us t’leave or…” he licks his lips and mumbles a little, turning onto his side, Tuna moving into the crook of his neck “I think that’s what he meant… said Tuna’d be sad ‘nd he wan’s you t’show him Katsudon recipes or s’mthin’” the teen lets out another grumble and yawn.

Izuku watched affectionately, Haruto - when well fed, cared for, comfortable and warm, apparently turned into a sleepy kitten. He really wants to ask if maybe… maybe Aizawa could be their new dad but he knows it could trigger Haruto and with the display of cuteness he doesn’t want to risk it. So instead, he just scoots down to try go back to sleep “OK oniichan”

“Night baby bro… ‘m gonna do better this time… be-“ another yawn “-be a better brother”

Izuku smiles and adds “You’re already the best for me.”

The next time he wakes up, the sun is shining and there’s already a smile on his face because the first thing he sees is Haruto with Tuna asleep on his head. He can’t help the giggle that bursts out.

“You should dye your hair black” he says, laughing even harder as a confused noise bubbles out from under the fur. “Ohhhh maybe I can dye my hair black too then we’ll look like Aizawa’s real kids!!!”

Somewhere else in the apartment there’s a sudden clatter of cups or something, followed immediately by cursing. Haruto sits up as Tuna runs out of the room, probably to determine if it was a can of Tuna that was dropped “Zu-“ he whispers “I think he might have heard you… do you think if you accidentally called him dad he’d literally shit his pants”

Izuku looked at the teen with a wide open mouth (he was shocked but to be honest, he had his mouth extra wide to emphasise the drama) but the longer the silence extends the more he actually begins to internally panic because after he went back to sleep he dreamt about getting a piggy back ride from the man and going to a fairground where the cotton candy made certain body parts turn into jelly, except not in a horror story kind of way, just in the - this is crazy and fun kind of wa-

“Yeah I heard you in your sleep, ‘blue cotton candy dad, we can wobble our way to the teacups dad’ and I knew it was Zawa because you were smiling in your sleep” Haruto grinned.

Izuku gasps because apparently he’d said that about his dream out loud but he wasn’t sure he believed that he’d been sleep talking, maybe Haruto was just teasing him using the information he’d just gained “Don’t you… umm… stove? Gas stove? Don’t you stovelight me”

“What?”

“Ummm I think I heard someone saying it once, like making someone question life or memories something?”

“What’s that got to go with lighting a stovetop?”

Izuku frowned “I’m not sure… anyways-“ he pushed himself up, grabbing Haruto’s arm and pulling him into a standing position “Do you remember talking in the middle of the night?”

“Yep” he said as he popped the ‘p’

“What do you think’s going to happen now” Izuku bit his lip

“I don’t know, we could show him how good it would be letting us stay?”

“Good idea”

“OK come on and whatever happens… we’re in this together”

Aizawa was standing awkwardly in the kitchen when the boys appeared, leaning forward on the counter of the island ”Good morning kids… did you sleep ok?”

They both nodded, Haruto stepped forward with a small smile “Thank you for taking care of us last night and umm… carrying us to bed” his gaze wandered around the room, awkwardness matching the hero’s.

“No problem, we need to get you kids more protein, you’re both light as feathers!… speaking of… what would you like for breakfast?”

Izuku practically leapt forward, interrupting “I-I can do it!!!” It was almost a shout, the other two looking at him like he’d grown a second head “Ah that is… I’d like to cook breakfast? I mean… if you like…”

“Alright, relax… if you want to cook breakfast, me and Haruto won’t mind one bit will we kid?” Aizawa bought an excessively large cup of coffee up, sipping loudly as if it was a little too hot but he was too desperate to wait for it to cool down.

“I can do Tuna’s breakfast!” Haruto joined in with equal intensity.

Aizawa frowned “Alright what’s going on, why are you two doing-“ he waved his hand around in the air between the boys in a circular motion “This… thing… this desire to please and provide or whatever?”

Izuku and Haruto froze… because they didn’t want to be too obvious “Zawa… can we… talk at… or after breakfast? Please?” Izuku pleaded softly.

The hero looked concerned, it made Izuku’s chest feel tight and he wanted everyone to sit down to a nice breakfast where they could all feel warm, fed and calm before talking about what happens next. He didn’t want to just casually say while everyone was just standing around ‘oh hey remember how I told you my story because you said you didn’t want us to go back on the street and you promised we would make things work out and so I trusted you and then I started dreaming that we were a real family and I want to stay and make it come true but I’m scared’

A strange noise pulled Izuku out of his wild rambling, it sounded like a choke, cry and wheeze combined. He looked at Haruto who was frozen still, eyes wide… then he looked across to Aizawa who looked similar, except his hand was grasping his face over his open mouth.

“Did- did- d-did I-“ he stuttered in panic.

Haruto pushed into him, enveloping him in a protective hug and gently shushing Izuku’s continued stuttered gibberish. All the while he was looking at the hero as if he was ready to murder him if he said the wrong thing.

“Izuku… its ok.” The man seemed to recover quickly “its incredibly sweet what you’re thinking and I’m pleased that you trust me. I want both of you boys to trust me. I meant it when I said I don’t want you to go back on the streets and not just that” he took a deep breath “I want you to stay here, I have a foster licence… I like your company… so does Tuna… I… am… not very good at emotional stuff, I’m awkward and quiet and some people would go as far as calling me cold but if you gave me a chance, we can make this overpriced apartment into a home.”

Haruto relaxed his shoulders, wide teary green eyes peeked out from the teen’s embrace “‘ruto ask him to join the cuddle” Izuku whispered, the boy stiffened and hissed into green curls “He just said he doesn’t do emotional stuff”

“Oh for gods sake, you two need to work on silent communication” groaned the hero as he rounded the kitchen island and wrapped his arms around the boys “Izuku, you’re on breakfast duty, Haruto feed tuna… I’m going to hop in the shower real quick and hide from my feelings for a few minutes. THEN we are going to sit and have a chat”

About twenty minutes later the three of them are eating at the kotatsu, sipping orange juice, nobody knowing who was going to start “the chat”.

Aizawa sighed as he put his chop sticks down “Haruto, I don’t know if Izuku told you but last night he told me his identity and what happened to him. He is at present, classified as dead. Do you know if you are too?”

“Umm” the boy chewed his food thinking how best to approach the situation “Yes, I think so”

“Ok so the Principal of UA is a very intelligent man- err… rat? Rat bear… anyway, he can probably set you guys up with new identities if you want, then you can stay here… next up and stop me if this is too much… we should start with full medicals, make sure you’re both ok, figure out any vitamin deficiencies we need to combat etc…then we need to work on your education, get you caught up where you need to and back to school. Izuku” he looked the boy head on, reaching out to grasp his hands “we should figure out all the details of your quirk and get it registered.”

He tensed, figuring out the quirk, that would mean having to… “W-what if I get stuck? What i-if I can’t turn it on even… I-I-I’ve never tried to- to…”

“Hey… what’s my quirk Izuku?”

The boy had tears welling up in his eyes, this was a lot, a real lot. But still, he didn’t flinch when Aizawa activated his quirk, something he hadn’t done around the boys as he’d been told it looked a little… intimidating. But Izuku practically had stars in his eyes, a wide grin spread across his rosy warm cheeks “Erasure! You can deactivate any emitter or non-mutant type quirk! You’re eyes glow red and your hair floats, which I’ve always wondered if there was some telekinesis aspect to your quirk especially given the way your iconic scarf… muttermuttermutter”

The hero looked over to Haruto with a single brow raised but the boy smirked “Oh he’s got a whole two pages dedicated to you in his first book”

“First… book?”

Izuku squeaked and shoved his hands over his mouth “Sorry” came a muffled response

Aizawa huffed a laugh “Where’s this special book then?”

“There’s t-“

Izuku leapt over the table colliding with the teen, attacking the boy’s face to cover his mouth. Haruto decided he was having none of that and stuck his tongue as far out as possible “EWWWW GROSS!!!”

As the two boys tumbled next to the kotatsu, the hero picked up the plates with an eye roll (albeit with a fond look on his face) and took them to the kitchen to wash up. As he finished, the boys were breathlessly laughing so he tried again “Book? Izuku?”

With a very long groan, he pushed up off the floor and walked to the bedroom, muttering quietly as he went. The second he went through the door, Haruto skipped over “Hey Zawa” he whispered “he’s real embarrassed about these books, I think some kids used to be mean to him about them… be ummm will you please be kind to him about them”

Before the man could reply, Izuku was plodding back with his head down, two note books in hand so he simply nodded to the teen in understanding.

About fifteen minutes later, Aizawa closed the second notebook and put it on the coffee table, leaning back again on the recliner “Well Izuku… three quirks is an incredible feat”

“Wh-“ he looked over to his brother who shrugged, then back to the hero “What do you mean?”

“A fire quirk, a food quirk- what was it? Noms from Nothin’ AND an analysis quirk” he whistled an impressed tone “That’s pretty spectacular”

“Uh Oh umm… I-I… I…”

Haruto stood and bowed, a shit eating grin on his face “Apologies Sir, it appears your Izuku has broken, if you still have your receipt you can return for an exchange or full refund”

“HEY”

Chapter Text

“So… do you have a page or two on your own quirk?” Aizawa asked when everyone had calmed down.

The morning was going well so far, everyone was still sat around the kotatsu with warm toes and full bellies so the hero figured he might as well push his luck.

“No… I didn’t want- I mean… I… no”

“Right, I’ll be right back” he pushed himself up and wondered off to his bedroom, once there he went over to the wardrobe and pulled out a box from the top shelf. It was where he kept spare office supplies for if he was going extra work when at home. He rummaged around and pulled out a pack of glitter gel pens Hizashi bought him as a joke and grabbed one of the Present Mic notepads (which he bought himself but hid), then went back out to the boys. The two seemed to be whispering to each other and acted like they’d been caught with hands in the cookie jar when he reappeared in the room.

“What?” He said with a raised brow

Izuku squeaked and half shouted “NOTHing, nothing… sorry” 

He was pretty sure Haruto mouthed ‘fuck my life’ but he wasn’t totally sure.

“Right… anyway” he reached over and handed the notepad and pens to Izuku “Here you go… this is specifically for analysis on your quirk and if you want to do your brother’s too you can, its up to him. Start one at the front, the other at the back if you do so”

The boys nodded but didn’t say anymore so he continued “Ok so… you turn into a butterfly, made of fire. Do you have a name for it?”

“Hot wings” Haruto deadpanned immediately then burst out laughing, getting a slap on the arm from his brother.

“Nope… ummm… I’m still working on it”

“OK, write down the basics as bullet points on the first page for me, then we can go through them one by one” 

Izuku did a cute little jig, cuddling the notepad and pens like it was treasure then nodded and got to work. Haruto got up, offered to get everyone drinks and sauntered off to the kitchen. So he opened up the laptop and searched online for pictures of different types of butterflies. When a screen lit up with pictures he turned it around to Izuku “Any of these?”

If he thought Izuku had stars in his eyes about the notebook then now the kid was like a goddamn supernova. With a bright smile that made the skin around his eyes crinkle and his little nose scrunch up a little, he nodded and bit his lip, leaning forward to look through the photos “What size is this one?” He pointed to the screen “The patterns were made by what I think was different temperature flames but this one is the closest, if its like umm… this-“ he held his hands open about 10-15cm wide “big, then I think its that one… unless its just a simple representation of what my brain projects when it thinks of butterflies and the actual species of butterflies is irrelevant-“ with a squeak he covered his mouth.

“Why do you do that? Cover your mouth and stop talking?… oh and yes that’s a possibility but its good for the notes on your quirk to provide a visual aid for descriptive purposes”

“Yeah good point… Oh…” Izuku looked down at his lap, speaking quietly “I guess I try cover my rambling because the kids at school said I was creepy and would push me around more if I didn’t try to stop myself.” 

Aizawa tutted but before he could say anymore Haruto returned with drinks and a cute little growl “They’re just jealous because you’re smarter than they are. Maybe Zawa can help us get stronger, teach us some self defence”

“A reactive measure isn’t as good as a preventative counter, there shouldn’t be kids ‘pushing’ you around in the first place, the teachers should be combating bullying” he says angrily “That being said… some schools just don’t have good staff…”

“Plus teaching us self defence is a good preventative measure, it prevents us from getting our asses kicked without having to use our quirks” Haruto smirks.

Aizawa has a strange urge to puff his chest out in pride, Haruto seems to be coming out of his shell more and even if it’s presenting as him being a cheeky shit, it’s still progress. “Anyway… we’ll talk about that later. Now this” he clicks on the screen “Is a Monarch butterfly, its around 8-12cm across so I think its probably a good match.”

“OK” Izuku adds to his notes

After a couple minutes of listening to quiet mumbling and frantic scribbling, he decides to ask more “Did you find out anything else about your quirk, any special abilities?”

Izuku lifts the end of his pen to his mouth and taps his lips absentmindedly while thinking “Ummm… I could control the temperature I think… when I was trying to hide or not be seen while moving around at night I could make the flames darker and I think they were cooler… less stuff caught on fire by accident anyway”

Haruto piped up “That’s cool Izuku! My flames got hotter when I got emotional- I… hmm” 

Aizawa watched how the boy had gone from excitement at having something to add to the conversation, something relatable, to obviously remembering something he didn’t want to and shutting down a little. He still didn’t want to push the teen though, he wanted him to talk when he was ready. “Well that’s something we can test. Any other trials you ran during your time as a butterfly? Any training or anything?”

“Not really, I wanted to learn how to train my quirk, even though I was terrified of it, I thought one day I could- so after I turned back, I went to Endeavor’s, well I stumbled on the place by accident to start with and then it seemed the perfect opportunity to see how he trained with a fire quirk but he was just abusing his kid” Izuku had a disgusted look on his face before shaking his head sadly “And that’s how I met Ha- uh I mean, Haruto had the same idea r-r-right? Y-you were there to l-learn too right?” The boy laughed a little awkwardly, face silently screaming with panic that he’d said too much.

Haruto slumped “Its ok Izuku, you’ve told your story… I suppose I should tell mine”

Aizawa considered himself to be a fairly reasonable man, he wasn’t particularly violent or at least not violent when it wasn’t necessary, he had a calm attitude, never quick to judge. Ok so all of that’s bullshit. And right now he’s got two kids who were abused by their dads, abandoned or rendered useless by father figures and society. And goddamn he feels a murderous venom coursing though his veins. But he dials it down and simply keeps a mild distaste rendered on his face, pushing the agonising rage down, sheltering young impressionable eyes. 

The talk had gone well, there were still questions about who these people that kept him while he was in that coma for three years (boy did they scream villainous) but Haruto had left the place in a frantic hurry after lighting a fire and making a run for it. They’d said he was damaged and that his body would never be able to withstand his quirk again. He definitely needed that medical.

So after the chat, the boys went for a shower and bath to relax, then chilled out watching cartoons giving the hero plenty of time to get in touch with Nezu to pass on the details.

“Boys… Nezu wants you both to come in on Monday. To UA with me. I’m back at work but after homeroom I’m free until after lunch. We can get your new identities set up then take you to see recovery girl and see what condition you’re both in”

“Condition? Like a collectable figure, that’s what you say when you want to buy a special one off somebody, you ask what condition its in” Izuku piped up as if he was giving vital information.

‘So damn cute…’

“Hey Zawa can you help us fix the bush baby?” Haruto pushed his brother away with a soft hand to the face, while Izuku squawked indignantly “His hair is like-“ he pursed his lips in concentration “-If you took one of those bushes that can be shaped into things but then a tornado came by”

“Haruto don’t be mean to your brother. But yes. We can fix bush baby” he smirked.

After a combination of clippers (why he had them nobody knew) and scissors, Izuku was left with a high undercut and the remaining wavy hair tousled down to his jaw. With one of Aizawa’s hairbands, the longer hair was fixed up into a messy top knot/bun.

“Haruto wants his hair dying black so he can match Tuna”

“Shut up no I don’t!”

The hero got up and walked away from the squabbling children, pressing small circles into his temples as he walked over to his precious coffee machine. He’s only had two cups today so far and it’s now almost lunch time, what a travesty. 

“Hey Zawa” Izuku calls from the couch “Your phone’s doing that vibrating thing”

“Is it constant or just every now and then?”

“Just every now and then” Haruto replies

“Just ignore it” he sighs “Actually… so you know my friend that came around?” The boys nod, obviously a little anxious about the memory “That friend was the hero Present Mic” Izuku gasped and started mumbling so he cleared his throat and raised his voice a little “He also works at UA and if you’re comfortable with it, I know he’d love to meet you both. He loves kids and he’s a very… uhmm fun? Some people say he’s very fun and… emotionally mature? Available… emotionally available.” The boys had just as much confusion on their faces as he did. ‘Why am I so bad at this?’ “Anyway, I’ll take you to meet Nezu but we will inevitably bump into him at some point. I’ve been friends with him since I was about 16 years old, he is… loud and sort of forces friendship on people” he finished with a grumble.

“Okay!” Both answered together.

The rest of the day went by without a hitch. The boys spent a good portion of the afternoon reading after Aizawa let them into his bedroom to raid the book case. Izuku adds more to his notes and starts from the back with his brother’s quirk too. He orders a couple of sets of fire-proof/heat-proof bedding for both kids, despite Haruto insisting his quirk is under control and then asks the boys to choose a colour for blankets and towels. He even drags them over to the laptop and gets them, one by one to go through the website and choose more stylised clothing rather than the bland nondescript stuff he’d ordered them. He snuck a look over Izuku’s shoulder, seeing him get excited about a few bits of hero merchandise. So despite his terrible experience with heroes (present company excluded) it seemed the kid’s fanboy tendencies hadn’t vanished completely.

“Do you have any merch?” Izuku called out

“Absolutely not” ‘Fuck that’

“Oh ok” the boy sounded disappointed… maybe he could… no… nope, stop that.

Sunday was much the same, but by mid afternoon, he couldn’t avoid it anymore. He had to check his phone ‘ughhhhhhh’

87 group chat messages

5 texts from Hizashi

Hizashi: Hey Sho, still doing radio silence I see?

Hizashi: Are you coming into work on Monday?

Hizashi: Shooooooooooooooooooo

Hizashi: Nezu said you’re coming in Monday, I called him. He said you’re bringing the boys!! Can I meet them? ٩(◕‿◕)۶

Hizashi: Awwww come on SHOOOOOOOO

He huffed out a breath and tilted his head back, aches rippling through his shoulders and neck as he did.

Looking back at his phone, a smirk stretched across his face

Shouta: No

‘Hahaha’

He watched as the little typing bubble popped up then disappeared, then popped up, then disappeared ‘hahaha… s’pose I’ve tortured him enough’

Shouta: Fine.

Obviously he was going to introduce them but you’ve got to take little pleasures in life when you can and even though he wasn’t there to experience it, the panicked distress that would have caused is worth the minor effort.

Hizashi: OH. MY. GOD. I can’t wait to meet them! ☆*:.。.o(≧▽≦)o.。.:*☆

Shouta: Just try not to overwhelm them. Really try. More than you’ve ever tried at anything.

Hizashi: Got it. 

Hizashi: Should I get them some of my merch!! Do they like heroes? What about getting some of the staff autographs and giving them one of those cute books to collect them in!!  ＼(≧▽≦)／

Shouta: Hizashi. What did I say.

Hizashi: Ooops (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄)

He was about to throw his phone onto the recliner chair when another message was added to the group chat so after a couple of deep calming breaths he opened it, ignoring the option to be taken to the top of the unread messages, instead just looking at the last one.

60% of the time: I know you’re on your phone Shouta! Stop ignoring us!

‘Urghhhh’

LOUD NOISES: He was just texting me *smug*

60% of the time: Hizashi shop being a whore! Shouta, how are you feeling sweetheart?

LOUD NOISES: WTF!? That’s rich!

‘This is why I don’t read the messages in group chat. And what is even with these names? Anchorman? Why?’

Glass case of emotion: Calm the fuck down

He frowned in distaste

Glass case of emotion: Who changed my name!

60% of the time: Admin rights (*˘︶˘*).。.:*♡ You’re just mad because you missed movie night on friday

Glass case of emotion: Unlikely story, now leave me alone. I’m back in on Monday. Don’t harass me.  

He locked his phone, taking the extra precaution of going into his room and tossing the phone on the bed, then closing the door.

Chapter Text

Haruto woke up gently, soft little kitty snores next to his cheek slowly pulling him from slumber. It was incredible the impact Tuna had on his sleep, nightmares practically vanished, falling asleep was easier and rest lasted longer.

It was extremely early in the morning, if he’s being totally honest, he’s been a little anxious about today’s planned activities. Today was the day Aizawa was going back to work and he was taking the boys into UA with him. The idea of meeting Nezu wasn’t what concerned him (the hero kept calling him rat or bear or something, maybe its like just a nickname or something to do with his quirk maybe…) heck even meeting Present Mic was going to be ok. Izuku had been right about Aizawa and since they talked about what would happen on Monday, he’d reassured Haruto that Present Mic was one of the good guys, often helping disadvantaged teens through his radio show and creating charities of the sort. 

So that left the medical check. 

“Every organ was damaged, your senses, your ability to feel pain, all dulled. You’ll never be the same again… You’re debilitated”

What if that quack doctor was right, what if he was already on borrowed time?

He sat up slowly, Tuna shuddered and leapt back into his lap with a “Mrrrp”

“Sorry buddy” he whispered sinking his fingers deep into plush fur “Lets go sit on the couch”

As quietly as he could, he slipped out of the room into the darkness of the hallway, watching his step as the cat looped between his legs. When he reached the living room it wasn’t too dark, thin slivers of blueish morning light filtered between the blinds and the coffee table light strip was currently a red colour, artificially heating the room with a warm glow. Rather than slumping onto the couch as he’d initially intended, he stood in front of the television, studying the pictures set out on the mini shelves at either side.

There’s a picture of what looks like a younger Aizawa, maybe very late teens, his hair is just down to his shoulder and he’s in his hero costume which had barely changed over the years, he’s got his arm around a very old looking lady, hair pulled back tight into a bun with multiple chopsticks poking out. She’s looking to the side at the young hero, eyes crinkled into a beaming prideful smile. 

Above that picture is one with an even younger Aizawa, two other teens either side, both smiling like idiots, all three wearing school blazers. Aizawa isn’t smiling but he doesn’t look unhappy, more that he’s grumpy on the outside, content on the inside. Haruto’s mother always said he could read souls like a book, maybe that’s why he’s drawn to the picture, like its giving him a window to look through into the hero’s past.

The teen on the left has blonde hair slicked up, almost like a cockatoo. He’s got a sharp grin and orange lensed triangular glasses ‘he looks loud, his hair is loud, even his glasses are loud’. The other teen has a much more soft friendly (rather than chaotic friendly) appearance. He has a warm smile and floating blue hair, quite tall too. 

He reaches out and touches the photo “They look like they’d be good friends for him” 

“They were” Haruto jumps at the raspy voice that spoke from the edge of the hallway. When he turns, he sees Aizawa leaning against the wall, a small slightly sad smile on his face. “I’m sorry for scaring you”

The teen wants to grab his chest, hold his heart so it stops hammering in his chest. He’s put a real effort in over the last day or so to push away unwelcome panic, dispel his internal theories that the hero will devolve into an angry beast like his father. And the more he has embraced it, the more he wants of the man’s affection. He hasn’t found himself thinking about the man as a new father, rather thinking of he three of them as a unit, something whole, unlike the tattered broken pieces he used to have. Although each one of them may have their problems, they’re linked together with a silicon like glue, soft not rigid, so when one of them struggles, they move together, collectively helping each other instead of breaking away in brittle pieces.

“Are they not your friends anymore?” He can’t help but dwell on the ‘they were’ aspect

“The blonde on the left is Present Mic, who you’ll meet today, so yes, very much still friends even if he is a noisy, nosy pest, he’s probably my favourite pest… the other was… he was my… he died in our second year while training to be a hero” 

So that’s where the sadness comes from “I’m sorry… that must have been very hard”

He watches as the hero’s face softens, the wrinkles of a deep frown flattening down and a warmer smile blesses his lips “That’s very kind of you to say… it was hard… but it was a long time ago now. I don’t exactly believe in the saying that time heals all wounds, but it does help you manage them better.”

Haruto nods, looks briefly back at the photo and then with a soft sigh he turns and heads towards the kitchen, feeling a need to be useful, make up for probably waking the man “Sorry if I woke you up, I’ll get Tuna’s breakfast”

Aizawa followed him, yawning as he went “Nah kid, you didn’t wake me. Sometimes I just wake up at random hours. How you feeling about today?” The man reaches up to grab mugs and grabs the kettle to fill it, flipping on the coffee machine as he goes by.

“Ummm I’m fine” ‘I should tell him my worries, Izuku keeps telling me how good it is to disclose feelings, its important to open your heart when you trust someone… and he does trust this man’ “Although…I’m… worried about the visit to the medical lady”

“Is it because of the weird doctor when you woke up?”

Haruto nodded but didn’t want to go into more detail, not even wanting to meet the hero’s gaze.

“We’ll be there, Izuku and I, the whole time we’ll be there to support you ok?” 

When he finally looks over, Aizawa is leaning with his elbows on the kitchen island, staring at him, subtly offering help without actually reaching out. So again, Haruto nods, before reaching down and putting Tuna’s dish on the floor mat “Thanks” he quietly mumbles.

It’s not much later that Izuku gets up, the small buzzing ball of energy filling any quietness, distracting Haruto from his fears. The boy is so excited he can’t help but be swept up in the wave, laughing along with the antics. Before long, the three are walking out of the door, breathing in the crisp winter air. The freshness fills his lungs after 3 days indoors and gives him a weird enthusiasm that helps him make quips as they pass any and every bush on the way to the car.

The journey doesn’t take long and is filled with quiet radio chatter and Izuku’s constant babble. When Aizawa stops the car in the UA staff car park, he turns to look at the boys who both sat in the back “We might see Hizashi, that’s Present Mic before we get to Nezu’s office. To be honest, we might see a few heroes, like Midnight” Izuku softly gasped “Snipe” another gasp “Vlad King” another gasp “Izuku can you breathe please, just normally breathe, I’m sure its exciting but I feel like either you might pass out from hyperventilating or panic your brother towards an early heart attack…” the two boys looked at each other and took deep steadying breaths “I will stay with you all day, you are safe, its going to be ok… right?”

“Thanks Zawa” the pair said together, although Izuku’s was more of a bright chirp.

“Remember, Nezu knows who you both are… Hizashi knows you boys are staying with me but that’s all, everyone else I’ve left in the dark.” And with that he turns and opens the door, Izuku springs upwards, accidentally locking the seatbelt in his excitement and engaging in an intense battle with the thing.

It was quiet as they walked through the doors and into the incredibly large building, corridors although well lit and spacious induced a strange claustrophobia in Haruto. He reached over and grabbed Izuku’s hand, leaning in close to his brother who walked between him and the hero. Aizawa must’ve noticed, reaching over behind Izuku and pressing a grounding hand to his shoulder, just for a second, then pulling back. The action bought forth a tiny smile ‘its going to be ok, that’s what Zawa said’

As they rounded a corner there was a yell from a room somewhere in the distance “SHOOOOOOOOUTAAAAAA”

“Oh for fucks sake… boys, remember how I said Hizashi, Present Mic can be described as… fun…”

“He really is loud” Haruto quickly shoved his hand over his mouth, eyes widening at the remark that burst out of his lips

“He absolutely is.” Aizawa leant down to be a bit closer to their head level and whispered “He looks like a cockatoo but with glasses and a tiny moustache”

The hero smirked and the boys laughed “That’s exactly what I thought when I looked at the picture” Haruto hissed “No joke!!”

Up ahead at a junction in the hallway, a person skidded around the corner. He recognised the man from the photograph instantly. Peeking out of the corner of his eye he could see an extremely irritated expression on Aizawa’s face, the man’s shoulders had even tensed… ‘I thought they were good friends… what did he call him earlier?… favourite pest… oh…I get it…’ he bit his lip, pushing down the laughter that threatened to spill from his lips. 

Beside him, Izuku was vibrating, the hand that wasn’t gripping his own like it was life or death was rapidly clenching and unclenching against the front pocket of his hoodie. 

“Zashi” Aizawa literally growled the name out “What did I say?”

The blonde in question who had continued jogging towards them abruptly stopped, letting out a nervous laugh before he pulled down the front of his jacket, quirked his chin up a little and calmly walked forward with a warm smile. Except it wasn’t calm really, Haruto could feel the waves of energy flowing from the man, mixing up with Izuku’s like some violent froth when tides smash against a reef. 

He came to a stop in front of the trio, starry eyed, hands clasped in front of him, lips pushed together. They all stood there in awkward silence for a moment before Aizawa lets out a loud agonised sigh that seemed to tip the man over the edge. 

The blonde squealed “They’re soooo cute!!”

“At least he kept his quirk under control” mumbled the tired hero.

“Hi Mr Present Mic! I’m a huge fan! They way you use your quirk and have directional control is amazing and I love your radio show, your albruism…altutism-

“Altruism” Aizawa whispered

“altruism and charity work as well as the segment you did on quirkless teens was really incredible and I really like your hero costume, are the big shoulder pads just something you like or does it work part of the support structure to increase the forward path of your voice protec- pronection-“

“Projection” another whispered correction

“Projection? Have you ever thought about selling headphones as part of your merch line and giving them like a quiff so people could pretend they have hair like yours…”

“AAAEEEEEEeeeeiiiii” 

‘Aizawa almost wasn’t fast enough there’ Haruto noticed the man’s activated quirk and floating hair

“I bet we could chat about soooo much for soooo long little listener! You’ve got a real smart brain huh?!” 

Izuku flushed dark red, praise always did his little brother in.

“Boys, this is Hizashi Yamada, pro-hero Present Mic. He teaches English here at UA. He’s been my friend since we studied here together.”

“Hi Mr Yamada” Haruto again was softly spoken, fidgeting with bubbled anxiety.

“Zashi, this is Izuku” he said, placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder, then walking behind and past him, “This is Haruto” he repeated the process, but squeezed his shoulder’s a little as he pressed, making the teen melt a little, the tension in his shoulders must have been obvious to their guardian ‘is he our guardian, is that what he calls himself? Foster provider?’

“I’m taking them over to Nezu so we can sort out the foster paperwork and things. Can you swing by my homeroom at first bell just in case I don’t make it in time please?”

“Sure thing Sho. Its a real pleasure to meet you boys, I know he can be a little grumpy and quiet but he’s got a heart of gold!” Hizashi gave an enthusiastic thumbs up making the boys chuckle a little.

“Mr Zawa isn’t grumpy, he’s another soft cat like Haruto and Tuna” Izuku babbled softly, smiling coyly.

Hizashi clasped his hands together over his heart, big eyes and pouty lips “So cute” he whispered before he turned to look at Aizawa with a mischievous glint in his eye, mouthing the word ‘cat’

“Great. Come on boys, say bye to Mr Cockatoo”

“Hey!” 

Chapter Text

As the crazy blonde wandered off with a wave over his shoulder, the three carried on walking down the corridor, eventually coming to a rather grand set of wooden double doors. As Aizawa lifted his hand to knock, a voice called from inside “Come in please Mr Aizawa”. Haruto thought it was kind of creepy ‘Maybe this Nezu guy can see through walls? Is that his quirk? But he called him rat dog? Can rats see through walls?’ He could hear the hero next to him grumbling under his breath as he turned the handle and held open the door for him and Izuku.

As he stepped into the room he saw the desk directly ahead and suddenly the referral of the man as Rat-Bear makes sense, he felt his steps falter as he carried on walking towards the chairs ahead. ‘Holy shit… He’s a mouse… bear…dog… ferret…what?’

The room is surprisingly bland, although he does wonder if having a tasteless room is what should be expected when the inhabitant isn’t actually human ‘do rats like pictures and flowers?’ The desk where the principle sits is in front of a large window, to the right is a sideboard with plastic flowers and what he guesses is one of many degree certificates framed. Beside that is a glass fronted filing cabinet and along the left side are more bookcases. It feels… generic, there’s nothing homely about the place but again, these are perhaps characteristics associated with humans. He’s snapped out of his wondering by talking.

“Good morning Mr Aizawa, I presume these young boys are your newest friends?” He hopped down from his chair and walked around the side of the table to come greet them and Haruto feels like its strange greeting an adult that is shorter than him “Good morning boys, my name is Nezu, the one who could be a dog or a mouse or a bear… I am the Principle of UA!” 

“Chimera? Is that the right word? A mix of different animals?” Izuku muttered quietly, a soft frown on his brow as he rubbed his chin in thought. Nezu heard him though if the little ear twitches and dangerous smile was anything to go by.

“Nezu, this is Izuku and Haruto. These are the names that they go by at the moment although if we look into the options that might change” Aizawa stepped forward, like before he gently touched the boys shoulders as he introduced them but it didn’t provide comfort like before. He needed to clear up that he was Haruto now, there was no other name. He will never be a Todoroki again, never!

“That is my name! There’s no other options, Touya is dead!” He hissed, panic pushing out as misdirected anger.

“Oh no young man, don’t misinterpret our meaning with that. If that is your final decision then that is absolutely your choice, we would need to choose a surname though.” Nezu moved back to sit at the desk again

So now he felt guilty, another hero here to help and he bit the hand that feeds “I-I’m sorry for snapping Mr Nezu, its umm… its nice to meet you” he gradually got quieter as he spoke, distress seeping into his lungs.

But Izuku grabbed his hand and on the other side, that grounding yet gentle hand came down with a light squeeze on his shoulder.

“Hi Mr Nezu! I have… hah ummm so many questions but I guess right now we c-can talk about what we are meant to do now… I… WE… we like staying with Mr Zawa- Ah Aizawa, he’s helping us and its so” Izuku’s voice went thick so Haruto stepped up to continue. 

“Its unexpected but nice, we’ve been…” he looked into Izuku’s piercing green eyes, glinting with tears he was trying to stop from falling “mistreated… left behind… and we want to, uh I want to start fresh.”

“Of course young Haruto. Touya Todoroki can remain dead, you can keep or choose your own birth date, say you’re an orphan with unknown parents or come up with whatever story you like” the principle laughed a little manically “I’m very good at hacking and document processing”

“Processing” Aizawa grumbled

“And for you Izuku, we can change the official documentation to have your death certificate retracted? Or come up with something all together new if you’d like although with no living family around it does seem rather unnecessary.”

“Can I still be me?”

Haruto snorted “I don’t think you could ever be anyone else broccoli” 

Izuku was swift with a retaliatory elbow “I mean I would like my death to be renac- re- restr- undone please… but I don’t know if I want to keep my surname… what if m-my my dad…”

“Oh he’s dead” Nezu chirped out cheerily

Aizawa angrily cursed, scowling at the principle before turning and kneeling down so he was slightly below a very wide eyed Izuku “Hey, I’m sorry he said that so carelessly… you don’t have to worry about that man coming back. Even if he hadn’t passed away Izuku, I wouldn’t let him get anywhere near you. If you are coming to live with me, both of you boys” he looked at the teen as well “you’ll be under my care and I look after things that are important to me and you are both already so important to me” he finished with a tiny smile, warming hearts that have been broken so many times before. “Izuku you can still be Midoriya if you want, without fear. Or you can choose something new, with Haruto… start fresh together”

“Might I suggest we have Izuku’s death certification removed but give him a new surname and a long lost brother Haruto, sharing his name. I think Aizawa would be the perfect choice wouldn’t you say!” Nezu looked at the hero with a dangerous gleam as the man stood up. 

Haruto looked Aizawa, given what happened when he overheard Izuku’s “dad dream” he was curious to see the man’s reaction to the idea of the boys taking his name. He noticed that the tired looking hero had a surprising amount of emotion displayed all at once: 

Shock

Disbelief 

Anger

Panic

Pride?

A desire for vengeance??

Maybe just subtly… happiness?

‘Izuku and Haruto Aizawa… is that asking for too much from the man?’ He looked over at his little brother, who was blushing and stuttering, trying to start saying something then thinking it was the wrong thing and slapping his lips closed. 

Nezu looked thrilled. 

Aizawa’s a secretive man, he’s quiet, he’s not a flashy hero obsessed with popularity or winning, he said he would take care of us, he said he would protect Izuku from his father if he hadn’t been dead…

“Would you protect me from my father? He is… driven, unyielding and violent.” Haruto tried not to sound so vulnerable… so weak.

“He’s nothing more than an angry ogre to me. I won’t let him near you, I promise you won’t have to go back to him” 

He looked down at the scars on his hands and took a deep breath “Then I really like the name Haruto Aizawa”

After the boys had decided on the path ahead, Nezu said he would update the quirk registry for them both and promised to look into the Todoroki situation. Haruto had mentioned his concerns with his mother’s deteriorating mental state and his father’s relentless punishing training regime. He may have struggled immensely when discussing Shouto but Izuku stepped up to fill in the gaps, holding his brother’s hand in support and reminding him that its Enji in the wrong and Shouto is a victim just like he is.

So now they were back wondering down the hall towards towards the classroom, Aizawa grumbling quietly into his scarf about coffee. “Hey Zawa, is Tuna going to be ok?”

“Yeah, he’s used to lazy quiet days without me Haruto, don’t worry but if you like, we can go shopping for toys and catnip after we are done here today?”

Haruto nodded with a hum, thinking carefully about what things cats like to play with as they walked ‘Cats like mice right? What about feathers? Or fish… flappy fish toys?’

“OK I just need to pop into my class and deal with some students, just wait here ok? If anyone comes and bothers you just say Mr Aizawa told you to wait here and I don’t know, tell them I’ll expel them or something” he waved his hand dismissively as he slid open the door, slinking in and closing it firmly behind him.

After a rather boring 15 minutes, slumped against the wall, loud clicking footsteps made the two boys look down the hallway.

A husky female voice echoed out through the corridor “I think you two are far too young to be here. Are you waiting for someone sweethearts?” 

Suddenly the door flung back open “No… go away” Aizawa trudged out of the room, a yellow sleeping bag over his shoulder

“How many sleeping bags do you think he has?” Izuku whispered

“Oh honestly darling I’ve lost count” the black haired woman purred as she bent down crowding into Izuku’s space

“Midnight?” 

Haruto looked at his brother and sure enough Izuku had stars in his eyes, that spaced out adoring ‘that’s a hero I love’ look on his face. He rolled his eyes, catching Aizawa doing the same thing.

“Call me Kayama you lil cutie-“

“No… no thank you… we’re busy and she’s annoying” Aizawa slipped behind the boys wrapping his arms over their shoulders protectively, steering them away as he glared over his shoulder at the woman. 

Haruto found the whole thing quite amusing, the woman pouted and whined “But I could be Auntie!! Auntie Kayama!!” She skipped down the hall after them as Aizawa started taking longer strides “These are the boys staying with you right? Zashi told me this morning!” By this point, Izuku was practically running his little legs to keep up.

“We have to go see Recovery Girl, go teach something!” 

“My class isn’t for another 10 minutes! They have such beautiful bright eyes, can I buy them some nice clothes? Hair accessories? Where are you going for lunch? We have so much to talk about!” 

Haruto pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket (having confiscated Izuku’s note pad earlier) and scrunched it into a ball, smirking as he handed it to Aizawa. The man looked delighted, a wide Cheshire Cat grin as he quickly turned and flicked the balled up paper into the woman’s face making her squeal. Quickly the trio ducked around a corner and through the double doors out of the building “Come on boys, lets see how fast you can run!”

Less than a minute later, the three entered the medical building, Izuku and Haruto huffing out quick breaths.

“Hmmm looks like we need to get started on some basic fitness training for you two” 

“Not until I give them the all clear!” An elderly voice called out from an open doorway up ahead.

Haruto once again looked to Izuku, noting that this must be the healing hero they’d talked about. The boy was jigging around from one foot to the other, staring at the open door like some sort of god was about to appear. It made him feel a little apprehensive, the last medical facility he’d been to was extremely child-like and…creepy. But the surroundings seemed warm and welcoming, posters about emotional wellbeing, keeping up with regular doctors visits, the best nutritional sources of vitamin C… it felt like a place where you would be cared for… not used.

“Now come on dearies, I’m sure you’ve got other things planned for the day”

The voice made him turn sharply from viewing the wall, back to the open door where there now stood a tiny elderly woman. Relief flooded through him, why didn’t they tell her she wasn’t some young boisterous hero? She was probably someone’s soft cuddly grandma right?

No… wrong. She wasn’t some gentle old lady, more like a cranky but caring old lady who nagged Aizawa about what he was eating, saying that fruit pouches weren’t a reasonable substitute for a healthy meal and hitting him with a weird syringe shaped walking stick. ‘What if you have a needle phobia? She even has one in her hair.’ 

She laid Haruto on a bed with a strange scanning module that was attached to the wall, moving up and down about a foot above his body, beeping occasionally and making him jump. Apparently the scan would take about twenty minutes, so he laid there, listening to everything happening as he kept his face up towards on the ceiling, occasionally looking out of the corner of his eyes at the others.

Izuku had been for some odd tests in a separate room and was now sat on the bed directly opposite, giggling while his knees flicked outwards as she tapped and tested reflexes. She had a clipboard, asking questions one after another, occasionally sighing in disappointment. 

A slightly louder different pitched beep went off from the scanning machine, it had finished. Haruto felt panic raising up, making him nauseous. This was it. This was the moment she would tell him he’s dying. He can’t leave Izuku, they are meant to survive together!

“You can sit up now dearie, go swap places with Izuku please” the old lady wandered over to the computer to set up the new scan “If you want a drink of water, the fountain is over there, then pee in this cup please. Don’t worry, Izuku did this while I was setting up your scan, there’s no need to panic young man”

He sat up, pulling off the little device on his finger and hopped down onto wobbly legs, getting a squeezing hug from his brother as they passed each other. It didn’t help, he was spiralling out of control, he could feel his throat getting tight and his breath fighting to come at normal intervals.

“Haruto, can I rub your back? Or touch your head?” Aizawa was whispering at his side as he stared off into space with a slightly gaped mouth. 

His eyes were stinging but he nodded, biting down on his lip, squeezing the thin rubbery mattress he sat on. Very gently, big fingertips threaded through his surprisingly silky spikes, softly pushing and scratching his scalp. It grounded him, reminded him that he wasn’t alone. 

This man gave them a home, saved them, was giving them his name... simply put, he was their hero. 

Chapter Text

Recovery girl made him do a wee in a little cup with a yellow lid and dipped some strips of paper in it, he read out lines of letters getting smaller on a poster on the other side of the room, she tapped his knees with a tiny hammer, at one point he sat in a padded room with some headphones and a button that he had to press when he heard beeps. It was interesting… then there was the questions… never ending questions.

He could see Haruto across the room, laying on the bed as this weird wand thing moved slowly over him, changing orientation and moving again, beeping at uneven intervals. He felt so bad, the teen was obviously nervous about the results and if he was being honest, so was he. This was someone he couldn’t think of ever being without. He teased him, made him laugh, defended him, provided for him, cuddled him, warmed him and without him he had no doubt that he wouldn’t have survived anymore. 

When the two swapped places he tried to lay quietly, perhaps ignore everything enough to nap but like his brother he found himself spiralling but not about his own results, more about Haruto’s.

Questions buzzed in and out of his head as he closed his eyes and tried to calm down “Have you been for been for a check up anytime in the last 12 months?” “Have you had any broken bones?”… “Do you have any allergies?”… “Have you experienced any chest pains or difficulties breathing?”… “Do you eat five pieces of fruit and vegetable a day?”… “When was your last dental check up?”… “Have you experienced any symptoms of puberty?”

Umm what?

Izuku’s eyes blinked open ‘she didn’t ask me that’ he thought

“That’s because you’re only 9 dearie, Haruto here is 13”

Izuku squeaked… ‘said that out loud huh’

Before long all of the scans and everything was finished, Recovery girl sent the three of them off to the canteen for an early lunch while she “Processed the results”. Haruto was obviously uneasy, it meant he had to step up and be the best little brother he could be… he just didn’t really know how.

After a rather embarrassing introduction to Lunch Rush, the three were sat at a table in the corner, older children were milling in and out of the room and without fail they were all looking at the boys. He wasn’t sure if it was because they were so young and obviously not students at the school or if it was because they were sat with Aizawa. 

Either way, the food was incredible, he still hadn’t gotten used to having plenty of food. Three meals a day plus snacks… wild. And hot food at that! Hot food, fresh fruit, desserts! 

“Izuku” Haruto laughed around a mouthful of food “You look like you’re crazy, muttering and moaning about the food”

Izuku looked scandalised “Muh! Cr- I’m!” He quickly swallowed “I’m not crazy! You’re crazy, who eats fried noodles with sweet bread!”

Haruto shrugged “Not everyone can be a genius”

Aizawa chuckled before frowning and pulling out his buzzing phone, scrolling and typing then pocketing it again. “Alright boys, lets finish up and head back to Chiyo” seeing blank expressions he added “Recovery girl”

“Alright lets chat about young Izuku fir-“ 

Izuku cut Recovery Girl off, reaching down and grabbing hold of his brother’s hand “No please, don’t make Haruto worry anymore, its not fair when he’s so stressed out about it, go through his stuff first… umm… please?”

Aizawa reached over and put a hand on Izuku’s knee, giving him a small smile before looking at the doctor and nodding. 

Izuku and Haruto were sat side by side on one of the beds, Aizawa was sat opposite on a chair next to her desk.

“Very well… Haruto, I know that’s your preferred name but I’ve combined your new data with everything I could pull off the system in your previous name… which was surprisingly limited to be honest. There is… extensive damage to your lungs, heart, kidneys, multiple nerve points, parts of skin and tear ducts. Parts of your body have synthetic and a unique regenerative tissue. I know this sounds terrible but all is not lost dearie.” She pulled out some printed documents and handed them over to Aizawa “Nezu worked with some doctors at I-Island and there are some… unique medical advancements that should help with the tissue and nerve damage on a cellular level. It will involve an intravenous applied nanotechnology, approximately once a week for an hour at a time. The research was based on healing damage caused by radiation and other invasive procedures, particularly those recovering from cancer treatments but it should work just as well at correcting some of the damage you sustained in the fire. After four treatments we should be able to see how well it will work overall, but we are quite positive given the success they have achieved so far.” 

“What are the side effects of the treatment?”

The boys both looked surprised that Aizawa was asking questions, obvious concern for them on his face.

“We’ll be giving him IV fluids to help flush things out of his system so aside from peeing a lot, worst case scenario is a bit of an upset tummy and a mild headache which will be fine with paracetamol. These medical treatments have been extensively tested so there shouldn’t be any problems. And the treatment will be covered by your employee health insurance as the boys are under your care.”

Izuku squeezed Haruto’s hand, sniffling a little while he desperately tried to keep tears at bay. He was going to be ok. They survived. 

“It appears that the replacement jaw you were given-“ 

He flinched. He didn’t know the extent of the injuries that Haruto had gained that night…losing a jaw? Burning up that bad? Its really no surprise he was in a coma for three years. Izuku felt sick, Aizawa had gone just as pale.

“-Is structurally and medically sound. And with a combination of minor surgery and my quirk, we should have your tear ducts working reasonably. You may get some mild discomfort while crying and be prone to conjunctivitis for the first few months but after that it will be ok.”

The three breathed out a sigh of relief at the good news so far. So she continued “You will need some booster jabs to catch up on vaccinations” She clicked and tapped on the keyboard, reading out from the screen in front “you have some very mild vitamin deficiencies but not too bad. Your body seems to be trying to catch up with puberty, some changes slowed down whilst in the coma so you may have some emotional upheavals in the next year. Are the boys sharing a room?”

“Yes, I only have a two bedroom flat at the moment” Aizawa looked awkward, Izuku didn’t understand, why did she ask if they were sharing a room? “But I think it would be good for me and the boys to go look around for something a little bigger, get somewhere with a garden too”

“But I like sharing a room with Haruto” Izuku whimpered, he didn’t want to be alone, just like in that building… just like before the accident.

“If you have your own space Zu, you can fill it with Present Mic and Midnight merch!” Haruto had a cheeky grin, ignoring the eyeroll from Aizawa “And I’ll still be right next door buddy” 

He felt his brother give his hand another squeeze so he nodded, trying not to cause a scene. He didn’t understand this, what did she mean by emotional upheavals?

“Finally, the skin damage can’t be helped unfortunately. There are extensive products for use in the medical industry that can help with fire damage but having being left for so long it wouldn’t really be able to reverse it. But we can condition the skin to stop it from toughening up and discolouring too much, probably not on your hands if you intend to continue using your quirk but perhaps the support department will be able to help there.”

“Thank you Ms Recovery Girl” Haruto gave a little bow as a quietly spoke

“No problem dearie. Now then, young Izuku”

He straightened his back, suddenly flooding with nervousness, its his turn.

“You have quite a lot of vitamin deficiencies and these don’t just stem from living on the streets. Your growth has been stunted by malnutrition, we should be able to give you some medication to help catch up a little bit of this once your levels are all ok but I’m afraid you’ll probably never be as tall as your brother or Mr Aizawa.”

Izuku slumped and frowned, it wasn’t the worst news but he wasn’t exactly looking forward to school bullies having something else to tease him about. Dead mom, dead dad, short and skinny.

“Stop pouting dearie, it’s going to be ok.” Izuku mumbled apologies so she could continue “I had a brief phone call with Nezu and he theorised that your vitamin C and Zinc deficiencies may be related to your quirk so here’s a list of foods to keep stocked up in your diet” another sheet was handed to Aizawa “You also have quite a bit of damage to your ribs… from what looked like multiple and repeated breaks and cracks when you were younger, some poorly healed breaks and ligament damage in your right arm and hand…”

Izuku looked up from his hands to see a sad look on the heroines face, it made him feel uncomfortable. Haruto and Aizawa looked downright murderous.

“…There are also multiple small burn scars on your torso and the top of your shoulder, but like your brother we can give you some topical treatments to soften the skin”

She turned around and went to a tall cupboard beside the bed, Izuku couldn’t see what was inside but when she closed the doors she had three pots of cream for them “One each… and this one Haruto, is for the seams between the normal skin and the… other skin”

She walked back to the desk and sat back down, leaning to the side to unlock a little fridge “I’ll give you your vitamin shots and Haruto’s catchup vaccines, then you’re free to go. I’ll email you a full detailed report for each of your boys later today.”

‘Your boys… that… that sounds nice’

About 20 minutes later the three left the medical bay, two of them with lollipops, one of them looking even grumpier than usual. Before they walked up the path to go back into the main campus building, Aizawa stopped them and turned them with a soft hand on each shoulder, bending down a little to be closer to their level

“Ok boys, we have a lot of stuff coming up. Nezu has an extensive exam for you tomorrow, check your education levels, see what you need to work on before the next school year starts… We have to find somewhere new to live, get you boys laptops and registered at school-“ the boys both grimaced “-not today though, god no. A phone each-“ Izuku gasped and went to complain “-nope, don’t want to hear it. New phones, new laptop, new place to live, new school, a basic exercise regime, quirk training for both of you… that all sounds…”

“Exhausting” mumbled Haruto

“Yes… come on, lets go to the support department” 

“Don’t you have classes?”

“Pffft” the hero waved dismissively as he walked towards the doors so they could get their things and slip out quietly.

“So put this in your mouth and coat it in spit”

‘What’

“What?”

Izuku looked between the student holding out a weird fuzzy lollipop stick and his brother in confusion, Haruto gave him this ‘fucked if I know’ expression. Aizawa was talking to Power Loader at the edge of the support lab having told Izuku to “follow Yama’s instructions”

But this wasn’t what he was expecting this, why did he need his spit? It’s gross.

The student looked thoroughly bored, he had this monotonous voice that bore into his soul. “If we are going to make some clothing that works with your quirk it needs to be made with bio-synthetic fibres made from your DNA”

Izuku gasped “Wow! That’s so cool, so when I use my quirk and lose my clothes, these ones would stay with me so I won’t be naked when I learn to turn off my quirk! That’s exci-“ the student shoved the fuzzy stick in his mouth mid-word and set a timer on his phone, stepping back to write something on his laptop, turning briefly to motion to Izuku to move the stick around his mouth. After 45 seconds the student grabbed the stick and as if it Hadn’t even happened, Izuku continued his stream of babbling questions and thoughts “What kind of clothes will they be? Will they have a level of fire resistance? I’m not really sure if I have actual fire resistance when I’m not using my quirk, I haven’t really had the chance to test-“

“No Izuku.” Aizawa glared “No burning. No testing if you burn. Haruto, keep an eye on him, no fires! Now, Yama did you get everything you need?” The student nodded “Right well we can head off for the day”

Haruto perked up “Pet shop!?”

Chapter Text

Izuku, Haruto and Aizawa ambled casually into the pet shop, he’d told the boys to pick a cat toy each and generally look around while he was on the phone. Izuku hadn’t been in a pet shop for so long, he used to like going to look at the colourful fish when he went in with his mother for fun. He was never allowed a pet but the shop was across from the park and next door to the convenience store, so they would go in from time to time. Well, before things went downhill.

“What about like… fuzzy fake mice? Cats like mice right?” Haruto was softly frowning, genuinely wondering about what cats like. “Mice, birds and fish right? And I think laser pointers”

Izuku stopped in his tracks “Haruto cats don’t have alop- aplos- asposabl- they don’t have thumbs they can use. Why would they like laser pointers?”

Haruto bit his lip “Hang on” the boy walked down the aisle, turned out of view at the end and laughed extremely loud. Izuku didn’t understand but thought it was funny anyway. A couple of seconds later his brother reappeared, red faced and a little wheezy “Sorry. Now then, I think this is the dog aisle” he said as he picked up a soft pizza toy “so let’s keep looking. I don’t want to be empty handed when Zawa gets back”

By the time the hero returned to them, Izuku had a long thin pole with a rainbow coloured string and bright feathers attached to the end. Haruto had a small fuzzy mouse toy that could be filled with catnip in one hand and a rechargeable electronic moving fish toy in the other. He was debating if the moving fish toy would keep the cat more entertained when they were out at school during the day or if the lure of catnip with the mouse would be better.

“Just get both, it’s fine.”

The both jumped, turning to see Aizawa behind them, a small tub of catnip in his hands. Walking side by side, the three took their collection of goodies up to the counter where the staff member apologised for running out of paper bags, instead giving them a small box to put their things into. Of course when they got home, Tuna was thoroughly excited about chasing the feathered string for all of fifteen seconds, before climbing into the box and just sitting in there. It was a very tight fit and his fur spilled over the sides of the box around the top edge but he looked happy enough.

The evening was relaxed. The stress of worrying all day proved a little too much for Haruto who passed out almost immediately after dinner on the couch, Tuna finally leaving the box to curl up with the teen.

Izuku felt really good, they had gotten some really good outcomes from the day. He was going to be Izuku Aizawa. Haruto would “officially” be his brother! Both of them had medical plans in place to make them better, especially Haruto. Izuku might be grumpy about being small but great things come in small packages, that’s what his mom used to say to him.

Aizawa had collected the phones and laptops he had ordered for the pair of them on the way back from the pet shop so now he was staring cautiously at the two pieces of technology, not really sure what he was supposed to be doing with them. Everyone he knew was in the room with him so he couldn’t text. Well he could but Haruto was asleep and he didn’t want to bother Aizawa, the man was scrolling through real estate websites looking for somewhere new for them to live.

So that left him thinking about his quirk. Aizawa said they would be doing quirk training and he was secretly a little anxious about it. He always told Haruto to speak through his worries, seek help from friends and family, so he cleared his throat to ask a question “Y-you said we would be doing quirk training… c-can you tell me what we are g-going to do?” 

Aizawa turned slowly from his position at the Kotatsu “Don’t worry about it Izuku, I intend to be there with you a hundred percent of the time and I’ve asked to have a small body of water there like a tub, so if you panic and I’m not activating my quirk when you want me to, you can dunk and change back. We just want to get you used to activating it and deactivating it to start with that’s all. And you’ll have these little cycling shorts and vest set that the support department are making so you won’t be naked when its turned off. And that’s all to start with ok… I promise”

Izuku smiled, warmth spreading through his body… maybe he could curl up beside Haruto and Tuna, take a little nap after all.

The next day the three of them ventured back to UA and were now sitting side by side at a computer table, each of them staring at the monitors in front of them.

“The first section is multiple choice, just go through one by one and tick the answer you think is right. The second section is what the paper is for, write the answer to the question, then click next and continue. Don’t worry if you don’t finish them all. Then we’ll have lunch and Nezu has another test, all written…” he putts his hand on two thick booklet style wads of paper “Not sure what this one is but again, just do as much as you can.”

The boys looked at Aizawa and nodded, turning forward to begin the test.

Izuku was pleased it wasn’t too difficult, mostly covering the things he’d done at school before the incident, with a few that just required some logical thinking. He may have missed a year of school but he was a pretty smart kid (in his honest opinion), teachers were often surprised the "useless quirkless kid” had a brain, docking points if he came top of class to keep the peace with the more volatile students who would be furious at being beaten by him. 

When he finished the first section he leant back and stretched a little, Aizawa looked across from his seat next to him “You ok there kid?”

Izuku smiled as he rubbed his shoulders “Yeah, just a little sti-“

At that moment, peace was interrupted as Yamada slammed open the door, rambling and complaining about students struggling with the difference between “There, Their, They’re” in his English class. The blonde sat on the opposite side of the table with a huff, mumbling an apology to the boys when he saw they were taking their test. 

It was about fifteen minutes later when Yamada groaned, looking up at Aizawa “Sho… help… help me pleeease! This is sooooo tedious!”

“Sorry Zash, I’m busy, up to my eyeballs with work, plus I’m still looking at houses.” 

Izuku saw that the man didn’t even look away from his screen ‘he really must have a lot going on. He’s missed so much work from looking after us’

But when Izuku looked away from his scribbled papers, peeking over at Aizawa’s screen, he had to bite his lip to suppress a laugh. “Busy huh” he whispered, eying the cat videos and memes the hero was actually looking at. 

Aizawa smirked and put his finger up to his lip in a shushing motion, making Izuku chuckle.

After lunch, the boys were carb tired following their heavy noodle dishes, so writing answers to question after question would really have being the nail in the coffin but Izuku was utterly baffled by the quiz. One question seemed to be on a completely different topic to the next, querying opinions on social situations, theories about quirks and how to use them, analysis of situations, first aid… it felt extremely random. But it was enough to keep Izuku on his toes. When he glanced over to his brother, the teen had a deep frown making him wonder if they actually had different tests. Before they even knew it, 4pm had rolled around and Izuku was massaging the knuckles in his writing hand.

“Well done boys” Aizawa ruffled both of their hairs as he walked past to get his things “Apparently results will be ready tomorrow”

As the trio walked down the empty hallway Izuku blurted out “We should celebrate!… Umm I- I mean, with the health stuff and the big tests, I-I”

“THAT’S A GREAT IDEA” two excited voices chimed out from the corridor behind them. 

Turning, they saw a very excited Present Mic and Midnight practically skipping towards them, ridiculous happy grins slapped on their faces. A giggle burst out before he could stop it when a deep mournful sigh came from Aizawa.

And that’s how the five of them ended up sitting around the Kotatsu, sipping and chomping on an over the top extravagant meal. It was loud and boisterous, filling him with even more joy, even though he could tell Aizawa and Haruto were a little less comfortable with the level of socialising that was happening.

The two wild heroes were asking the boys questions on their musical preferences, favourite heroes, opinions on different fashion styles, favourite colours, favourite movies, opinions on cats wearing hats - everything! Izuku started to wonder if one of them was secretly recording their responses so they would surprise the two with merch to match their tastes.

“So, you boys ready to go back to school in a few months? Make lots of new friends, get crushes, hand out nicknames?” Nemuri purred as she spoke, twirling her tongue around the dango before sucking the ball off the stick into her mouth.

Aizawa glared at the woman but Izuku was busy falling down a little rabbit hole in his mind. New friends… nicknames ‘Kacchan’

Before he even realised, everyone had finished eating, the noisy duo pushed more sweet treats at the boys, handing out hugs albeit a little awkwardly. Once they practically shouted their goodbyes, they left the apartment, calling back over their shoulders, promising to “rain showers of gifts” for the boys as Aizawa literally pushed them through the doorway. Once they were gone the man slumped against the door with a sigh.

Izuku could tell he was acting off, he knew he was being quiet but he couldn’t pull himself out. Haruto kept eying him, not obviously expressing suspicion but watching nonetheless. Izuku kept his lips zipped closed, ignoring his own previous advice and simply washing up in silence, grumbling about tummy ache and going to bed. 

Despite the anxiety and distress, sleep claimed him quickly but that wasn’t always a good thing.

The darkness had a soft red glow to it, gentle like a fire beyond the horizon. 

“Long time no see… DEKU” cruel sneers and crimson gazes surrounded him, lashing his mind with a violent heat “And to think I even went to your funeral. You should’ve stayed dead Deku” 

A sweet syrupy brown sugar aroma filled his nostrils, starting as a delicate fragrance but growing stronger, tinged with the smell of burning flesh.

Izuku gasped as he bolted upright in bed, Tuna immediately abandoning his preferred sleeping place of Haruto’s head, leaping softly onto his lap. The teen grumbled, rubbing his eyes before slowly pushing into a sitting position.

Panting, Izuku shakily looked around the dark room with a frantic urgency. The surroundings seemed safe enough so he closed his eyes and mouth, taking a deep breath through his nose, searching for those saccharine deadly smells.

“Hmmm smells like cat… and sweat” he mumbled to himself.

Haruto scoffed “Well I think I can smell seasoned pork… probably you though” the boy chuckled as Izuku gently shoved his shoulder “You ok Zu?”

He nodded before remembering it was too dark and quickly adding “I will be… just a stupid nightmare.”

Haruto got out of his futon, stepping gingerly in the dark onto Izuku’s so he could pull them closer “Lets sleep ok?” 

And with that the two boys curled up together, removing any trace of nightmarish scents.

The next morning Izuku and Haruto sat in the UA staff room, watching funny animal videos while Aizawa got through homeroom, it wasn’t long before the man was poking his head around the door, beckoning them to accompany him to Nezu’s office.

The principle beamed brightly “You boys are very smart. Izuku simply needs a little extra studying to catch up in history and geography, a little bit of English revision perhaps. Haruto is a bit behind on his maths and could do with tidying up his writing but honestly, its quite amazing that their studies haven’t suffered severely with time away. Some very interesting answers on my afternoon questions… Izuku has quite the knack for quirk analysis-“ Aizawa smirked at that, it wasn’t missed by Nezu “-and Haruto has some skill for tactical planning. Very interesting… Anyhow I will email through full details of the testing to you Mr Aizawa and a list of books and websites that will help get the boys up to speed. New school year starts in April so you have around four months. I’ve also emailed a list of prospective middle schools for Haruto and Elementary schools for Izuku.”

“Thank you”

Izuku suddenly felt massively panicked, what if Aldera was on that list… he couldn’t bare the idea of going back there. The bullying wouldn’t get better even if he had a quirk now, they would find something else to torment him about, he couldn’t do it! 

“I ummm… can I… I mean… P-please don’t send me back to my old school” Izuku whimpered, tensing up to try keep the tears at bay.

He felt the soft warm arms of his brother wrap around his shoulder, pulling him in. Slowly he opened his eyes, looking over Haruto’s shoulder at his guardian who frowned in concern.

“Don’t worry Izuku, we wouldn’t dream of it.”

Chapter Text

Thursday and Friday seemed to slip by in the blink of an eye. They would go with Aizawa to UA, sit on the computers in the staff room studying to catch up while he worked, have lunch with him then sit reading books and writing in simple work booklets provided by Nezu. But the newest addition for those two days was at 3pm, he would take the boys to the track and get them running, then pull them into the gym and start them on simple weights. Needless to say, the boys ate big dinners both nights and passed out early. 

Saturday morning was going to be different, he went up to the door at 8am, surprised both were still asleep after 11 hours. He promised them he would never enter without permission unless he was worried about their safety but now, they were obviously just tired so instead he knocked on the door lightly.

As he pressed his ear to the door he could hear movement in the futons and muffled mumbling.

“Boys, are you still alive in there? We have a busy day today so you’ll want a decent breakfast before we get started” He said to the still closed door.

He heard a very loud dramatic yawn (Izuku?), a groan (definitely Haruto) and a meow (probably Tuna). He chuckled quietly “We are doing some training today, a little martial arts and self defen-“

The door was wrenched open by Izuku, bright sparkly eyes and an open mouth grin “REALLY!??!”

“Zu… loud noises are banned before 10am” Haruto whined from his position, sitting in his futon. The teen’s white spikes looked wilder than usual with a flattened patch on the side directly above where his face has pillow marks and dried drool. 

The sight was both hilarious and adorable, a warmth flooding his chest ‘my boys are resting well, they feel safe… my boys?’ The unprompted thought stuns him momentarily before he sees Izuku’s blinding smile wavering slightly with his continued silence “Uhh yep. Training, then…” he sighed as he remembered the plans he made the night before “Nemuri is taking you for lunch and shopping while I go to a couple of house viewings”

Izuku squeals and does a cute little jig that has even the zombified Haruto snorting at.

“Zuku, too early for this level of cuteness, stop it” the teen roughly rubs his face and stands up with a little wobble.

An hour later the three were standing, spread out in one of the training rooms at UA, soft mats covering the floor. Aizawa had decided to remove his capture weapon, despite feeling naked without it and all three had taken shoes off.

“OK we’re going to start with some basic moves for avoiding and throwing punches, kicks and grabs. After that we’ll move onto throws and correct landings. First though…” a glinting grin spread wide making both boys shiver “Jog around the room for 10 minutes, then 50 press ups, 50 sit ups, 50 squats, 50 lunges and a two minute plank to finish”

Groans echoed out through the room as he tried not to laugh… sue him, he was enjoying himself.

Haruto used the side of his forearm to push away Izuku’s light punch, sending the boy stumbling in the direction his momentum was taking him. They repositioned and swapped sides, then switched back and repeated. The hero would come in, adjusting elbow positions, widening stances, helping keep the correct position while twisting. Both boys, although tired had small smiles, pleased to be learning but it made Aizawa chuckle darkly, this was just the beginning.

“Turn your foot Izuku…” showing the boy what he meant. Izuku had a little sweaty frown, tongue sticking out as he concentrated “yep there…” Both boys kicked “good… again”

A few minutes later he had them come to kick him, taking turns showing them how he would deflect that specific kick, repeatedly going over the moves before getting them to take turns with each other

“Again!”

The boys bit their lips to keep the complaining to a minimum as their muscles screamed in protest.

Izuku slammed into the mat as Haruto demonstrated the throw Aizawa had just shown them “Ok now swap… then repeat five times each”

Loud groans slipped from Izuku and Haruto’s lips making him smirk.

Haruto rolled out of the way of Izuku’s slow kick “again!” Shouted the hero.

“But I’m getting dizzy Zawa… that was like… six rolls” the teen whined.

“I think I pulled a muscle in my gloin” Haruto spit as he laughed at Izuku’s mistake.

“Groin… ok, head to the showers…” he sighed, dreading what he was about to say next “I have two house viewings so I’ll take you to where Nemuri is meeting you…” Another deep sigh “She’s texted while you guys were sparring… she’s taking you for makeovers.”

The boys stood there in shock, Izuku snapped out of it, sudden miraculous energy bouncing off him despite how he’d been a corpse just seconds earlier. Aizawa held his hands up to calm him momentarily “Just… don’t let her push you into anything you don’t want ok?”

“Ok” Haruto mumbled

“IEEEEEE” 

“Nemuri… don’t force th-“ 

The curvaceous hero literally hip checked the man mid-sentence, effectively cutting him off and sending him flying to the side with a grunt. With a wider excited smile she stood directly in front of the boys “I’m sure you’re both hungry after the demon cat’s training regime”

Haruto and Izuku both laughed, having spent a bit of time with the woman at UA, they had both come to understand her wild but incredibly caring nature. Despite her Hero persona, she was actually dressed casually today, a fitted v neck black jumper over dark blue skinny jeans, her hair pulled back into a low ponytail. “So lunch, then we can discuss what exciting things we can do”

Aizawa scowled at the woman. Ultimately this was the compromise that she came up with, her precious time spent babysitting in exchange for full makeovers, as though she wasn’t thrilled to bits to be spending time with the kids.

“Boys-“ he shouldered back in front of her like a grumpy teenager “Don’t let her pressure you into things, have you got your phones?” The boys nodded “Good, if you feel uncomfortable at all, text me or even if you just want to ask me something… you can even call if you like, I won’t mi-“

The woman elbowed in “Haven’t you got a property appointment to make?! Come on ~boys” she sang excitedly, looping arms with them and walking away with them, winking at him over her shoulder.

“Right” he sighed. To be fair, Izuku looked thrilled, Haruto just seemed thoroughly amused by the whole scene, not at all oblivious to the fact the two hero’s were literally fighting for their attention. It’s not that he didn’t trust her, because deep down he did. She even knew about the whole Endeavor thing after they chatted about things to watch out for and possible triggers for the boys. But really… he just didn’t feel comfortable being without them, the speed with which he had gotten attached was quite astonishing.

Shaking his head he set off for his two property viewings. 

When he arrived at the first property he was honestly surprised it was in his budget. It was a little further than he wanted from UA, a bit of a gamble being fairly close to where Izuku used to live but there were plenty of schools within a reasonable distance and a bus stop at the end of the road for easy access.

The street looked well manicured, the houses, despite being all different shapes and sizes were all large and modern. He’d arrived 5 minutes early and decided to take a walk around and see if there were any red flags. Things seemed ok, a man rode past on a bicycle and nodded politely, a couple walked on the opposite side of the street with a pram, a few houses down an elderly man was trimming the large bush in his front garden. Generally it seemed ok so he made his way back to the house. As he went past what would be his next door neighbour he paused… “Is that… shouting?” He mumbled to himself.

Slowing down considerably he made out two voices, a woman and possibly a teenage boy? Suddenly the front door was violently wrenched open, the handle slamming into the wall inside.

“SHUT UP HAG!! I’M JUST GOING TO THE ARCADE!” A vicious looking blonde kid, no older than 10 practically screamed over his shoulder.

Shouting inside the house got louder as a blonde woman, presumably his mother came into view “BRAT!! STOP SLAMMING THE DOOR LIKE THAT!!”

The kid stomped out eying Aizawa suspiciously, face twisting into a scowl as he snarled out “What you lookin’ at, you fucking hobo” then turned on his heel and stomped off.

He watched the boy for a few more seconds then heard the sigh of a very dismayed real estate agent standing in front of the property door. He knew the guy just witnessed all that and was now wondering what kind of impact it would have on any prospective buyer. Well… he wouldn’t have Izuku and Haruto anywhere near that but he was already here and the next viewing wasn’t for half an hour so he might as well look.

The house was split level, the entrance was nice but he quickly realised the floor plans on the website were utter bullshit. Opening into the living dining kitchen, he instantly knew it would be a squeeze to fit the sofa set and kotatsu in the space and he had no intention to put the heated table in the separate dining room. Also, why was there a bathroom downstairs, the whole thing didn’t match the plans. He turned with a face like stone “The floor plans on the site don’t seem to match what is here. The wall dividing the dining room wasn’t in the plans, there were two bathrooms upstairs and just a toilet donwnstairs” he walked into the kitchen opening a tall cupboard “And this was meant to be a pantry not just a long cupboard”

The real estate agent looked pasty skinned, slightly sweaty under his intimidating gaze “U-uh ohhh there m-must have been a mis-mistake when it was uploaded…The views from the upstairs balcony are quite-“

“No thanks. I appreciate the time you spent coming out but really, you need to get your website fixed, its not logical to mislead people who you are hoping to convince to buy something”

He didn’t even wait to hear the response, calmly walking out and googling the nearest coffee shop so he could get a drink before the next place. He firmly rubbed his temples when he sat in the car ‘Kind of glad it had the wrong layout, I wouldn’t want my boys being neighbours with that asshole kid. I hope the next place does better’.

The starting routine remained the same, this time he walked down a quiet street with smaller houses along one side and a mix of houses and apartment complexes on the other. His first impression of the street was good, fairly quiet, tidy but not snobby like the last area. As he wandered down the street two young teens came out of one of the houses, noticing the hero loitering they approached “Umm Sir? Are you lost?”

Well, they shouldn’t be talking to strangers but the thought was kind enough. The other boy cut in “You’re a hero right? My cousin’s friend’s quirk went out of control at school last month and he said a dark haired hero with yellow goggles and a scarf came to help. That’s you right?”

Aizawa nodded politely “That’s right. Anyway, I’m not lost but thanks for checking.”

“Ok Mr hero! Have a nice day!” The two teens waved and walked off down the street, turning at the end and disappearing. As he stood there in the cool but gentle breeze he already felt good vibes about this place. It was only half an hour (brisk) walk to UA, barely five minutes in the car, there was a bus stop five minutes walk away, and only another 10 minute walk to the train station. As he started to make his way back to the apartments he passed an elderly woman walking alone, he’d barely made it a few steps when he heard her take a tumble so he quickly went over to help.

It looked like she had rolled her ankle and tumbled when stepping off the pavement to cross the road “Are you alright?”

“Oh! Why thank you dear! I just had a tiny trip on my tiny trip to the cafe to meet my friend. He was a hero too”

Aizawa blinked in mild shock at the eavesdropping old lady, she chuckled and continued “My legs may be weak in my old age but my hearing aids are not. Bang lives on the next street over and we meet every day for tea. I like to think that he’s secretly courting me” she chuckled again.

“…Silver Fang? Former pro-hero Silver Fang… um here” he handed back the keys that had slipped out of her pocket with a small smile. Wow…well if he wasn’t convinced this area was a winner before, he certainly was now. The man was calm, if occasionally a little cheeky… but he was exceptionally gifted, his martial arts based quirk put him head and shoulders above most, so knowing he was around to keep the neighbourhood safe was welcomed - even if the man was probably in his eighties by now.

“Thank you young man, I’m fine now, hope the apartment works out! Hehehe” her face crinkled with a mischievous smile “My quirk lets me see people’s small hopes. You’re hoping this apartment works out.”

“Surely you’d know if Bang is courting you then”

The lady smiled widely and began to walk off “I’m still waiting for him to ask though. Have a nice afternoon”

Aizawa shook his head and walked up to the property. It was a series of multi level side by side apartments, narrow but tall, with a small back garden and room for a single car in a bay in front. After knocking on the door a young woman opened with a smile “Mr Aizawa?”

He nodded and walked in “I’ll wait here at the entrance and let you have a walk around first, here’s a leaflet with the floor plan as per our website listing and a few features that are listed. Its quite a delightful property, all the traditional features we love and the modern ones we crave”

He nodded politely, happy to get away from the usual spiel that realtors spew. The floor plan had been quite unique, the entrance came into a long genkan, on the left side were two doors, directly ahead were the stairs to the next floor with walk in storage cupboard underneath. 

Through the first door was a small office, perfect for if he needed to work on more confidential things. Through the second door was a good sized bedroom, with Tatami flooring, a large sliding door wardrobe and a small ensuite. It didn’t have a bath, only a toilet, sink and shower but it would be fine. The idea that he could come back from patrol without having to sneak past the boy’s rooms was perfect. The room had a sliding door to the small back garden, peeking out of the blinds, he saw there was a little table and chair set under the decking of the balcony above… perfect to sit and have a coffee…

He shook his head, shaking away the daydreams already piling up in his head. After heading back out and up the stairs he listened to his surroundings. No screaming brat neighbours, couldn’t hear the trains… 'hmm pretty good’

At the top of the stairs he came out into the open plan area. To his left were the stairs going up to the top floor, past that was a small wash room/toilet, a pantry and the kitchen. Just like in his current apartment, there was an island with room for two high stools. This time the kitchen was against the front of the house, behind the stove top was a long narrow window, cupboards directly above it. It was an interesting feature rather than the usual tile splash back common in modern kitchens, looking down at the leaflet in his hands, it was listed as a “desirable modern attribute” He rolled his eyes and finished checking the kitchen. 

When he turned, putting his hands on the Island, the area where he would have the couch and TV was ahead of him, then beyond that the area for the kotatsu, then the patio doors to the balcony. He checked the brochure “Spectacular balcony views and outdoor stairs to access the garden”… He walked over and checked the view, scoffing “Spectacular my ass”.

He slid open the doors and took in the view properly and ok, it was quite nice. Not exactly spectacular but as he turned a little to the right he realised that on a clear day you’d easily be able to see Mount Fuji. 

Back inside, he hopped up the stairs to the top floor. It was simple enough, toilet and wash room, then separate shower and bath room, at the front and back of the apartment were the two other bedrooms. Both were an equal size, tatami flooring and same size wardrobes. So really, the only thing the boys could argue over would be the views from the windows.

“How’s everything going up there Mr Aizawa?” The realtor called from the bottom of the stairs.

“Very good thank you” he answered as he started down the stairs

“Well if you like it, the absolute best part is that its obviously just been vacated so you could pack your things up and get moved in time for Christmas”

‘Christmas? Fuck.’

Aizawa’s steps faltered for a second “Ah… yes. That sounds perfect.”

‘Shitshitshitshit’

The woman starts tapping on her phone, babbling on about sending through the paperwork but all he can think about is the fact that it’s his boys first Christmas with him… and when the hell did he start referring to them as ‘his boys’?

Walking out from the apartment and onto the main road at the top of the street, he spies a quaint looking cafe and figures he should grab a bite to eat before he heads to the real estate office to complete the paperwork on the apartment. Walking past the window he sees bang and the old lady from before, both smiling and chatting away. When he makes his way to the counter the lady stops him as he passes “How was the apartment?”

“Perfect” he says with a small smile

“Aizawa” the old man says leaning back and crossing his arms

“Bang” he nods 

“Oh lovely and I’m sure your sons will love it” she chuckles

He tries not to look surprised but apparently his eyebrows have a life of their own, navigating his forehead in a sharp upwards progression. As he looks over to Silver Fang, the man has a similar expression.

“Have a lovely date you two” he says and starts making his way to the counter, biting back a laugh when he hears the old man start coughing on his spit.

Walking out with his onigiri and one of the best tasting coffees he’s ever had, he turns and heads back to where his car was parked, abruptly stopping when a boy, probably around Izuku’s age, gasped loudly. The boy had very floaty looking, pale purple hair, had eyebags that rivalled his own and was staring at him in a slack-jawed, awestruck way that reminded him of lil green. “You uh… ok there kid?”

The boy wheezed, flushing a soft pink “Umm yep sorry, h-have a nice day Eraserhead sir” and promptly walked away quickly, tripping on the edge of a drain cover and nearly face planting into a pole, whisper shouting “Shit” as he recovered.

Aizawa frowned, he’d been recognised way more than he was comfortable with today. Now he was eating and drinking, it was time to figure out his next problem. It was Christmas soon and he had nothing for the boys (his boys) and no decorations because he usually didn’t bother with the holiday. 

This year he wanted to make it special.

Chapter Text

Izuku sipped on his yoghurt drink, side eying Haruto who was happily drinking a green tea. Nemuri was on the phone with Aizawa, giving them directions to the convenience store they were standing in front of. He felt a little giddy, excited for what the hero would think of their new looks. He had new red high tops, much softer than his old ones ever were but more streamlined and considerably more expensive. He was apprehensive about letting the heroine spend all this money on him but she insisted her “two nephews” deserve to be spoilt… plus she was even more excited about Aizawa’s reaction than he was.

He had teamed his new shoes with skinny black jeans and the most awesome hoodie… it was a Midnight themed one, with neck details to match her costume and silver patterned cuffs at the end of the sleeves to look like handcuffs. Perhaps his favourite new item though, was the dark green fluffy headphones with kitten ears! He and Nemuri did little squeals when they saw them. 

But if he was honest, his brother’s transformation was the most eye catching. He’d dyed his hair black and cut the sides short, switched into ripped faded black jeans, black combat boots and a navy blue denim jacket with little safety pins here and there. He and Nemuri both went for black nail varnish, Izuku going for purple like the hero’s hair colour.

“Seriously?” 

The trio whirled around quickly to see the tired hero walking up with a strange expression… irritated? Exhausted? Shocked? Awed? Izuku was always amazed by how the man seemed to express a million things without seemingly moving a facial muscle, it was just like an aura that changed and glowed.

“What do you think Zawa?! Kayama-sama helped us find our own styles!” He beamed, lightly jogging over to the man

“Tut tut Izuku! I told you, call me Auntie Nem” she softly chided, making him blush lightly.

“You both look… great… is that… eyeliner? No, you know what, you do you, it’s great.” Aizawa gritted out, glaring at the woman “I’m kind of surprised you didn’t finish Haruto’s look with piercings”

Haruto gasped, practically shimmering with excitement at the idea, making the man groan.

“Shouta that’s a fantastic idea! Haruto, daaaarling, when is your birthday? February right? And you’re going to be 14? Such a big boy, I know the perfect studio!” she gleamed.

Aizawa just growled, putting his arms around their shoulders and walking them away.

But Nemuri never gives up apparently, chasing behind them a little “They even have a lady with a unique healing quirk” obviously this made Izuku turn and start mumbling out questions so Aizawa tightened his grip, ushering them away a little faster. 

“See you Monday boys!” She called out cheerily.

“Thank you Auntie!!!” Izuku called, making the woman clap and ‘whoop’ loudly. Haruto simply waved over his shoulder like Aizawa.

When they got home, everyone collapsed onto the couch in exhaustion. It had been a loooong day, so they put on a movie while Aizawa told them about the apartment.

About twenty minutes before the end of the movie, Aizawa grabbed his phone to order take out, asking the boys their preferences.

“What’s up?” Izuku asked, seeing the hero frowning at his phone

“Just a message from an old friend… the next street over from the new place is the former Pro Hero Silver Fang-“

“WHAT!!!” Izuku dived up from his slumped position and started muttering up a storm. Because Fang?! The martial arts master, creator of the insanely powerful Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist style, he was the number 3 hero back in the day, his strength was marked as S-Class. Often reported to bump heads with the HSPC and their apparent obsession with flashy powerful quirks. His older brother Death Wind was an underground hero with a similar quirk that utilised a wind element in his martial a-

“Izuku…”

“Oh sorry” he looked up wide eyed at the two staring incredulously at him

“No its fine… anyway, he lives nearby so I’ll have to take you to meet him at some point. Give me peace of mind when I’m out on patrol.”

Izuku was panting in excitement so Haruto grabbed Tuna and thrust the confused cat into his arms, forcing him to calm down.

Haruto then turned, a slight hesitation in his voice and asked “When are you going back on patrol?”

“Ahhh… I’ve been putting it off to be honest… I think once we get settled into the new place and Christmas is done, then I’ll start back up.”

‘Christmas!’

Both boys look at each other, Izuku trying to silently ascertain if his brother has had Christmas before, Haruto probably asking the same thing but neither said anything. Izuku in particular was worried that perhaps if they talk about it anymore they’ll be disappointed by what they hear. After all, Aizawa didn’t seem like the kind of guy who celebrated Christmas… ‘maybe it will be another year without joy…’

Aizawa continues, pulling Izuku from his depressing thoughts “I’m going to be packing everything up tomorrow so we can get moved into the new place. Hizashi has kindly” he said through gritted teeth “offered to take you boys to the radio station with him and give you a tour”

‘Ok wow… I… that’s amazing… hgfhfhdjkshi… I.AM.SO.EXCITED’ 

All that came out of Izuku’s internal brain malfunction was a little squeal, making the other two chuckle. It was the perfect distraction because now all he could think about was going to the station… and of course moving into a new house near Silver Fang…. Wow…

The next morning, the boys waved over their shoulder to Aizawa as they left the apartment, the crazy loud blonde babbling wildly about what he had in store for them. When they arrived at the quite intimidating looking building, they’re not afraid or worried because Present Mic has such an enthusiastic personality that it’s easy to get swept up in the moment. Haruto is a little quiet but he seems to be relaxed and having fun… Izuku knows his tells after all and the raven haired teen isn’t tense, isn’t clenching fists, even watches Izuku with a tiny smirk… particularly when he gets ridiculously bouncy upon seeing a life-size cutout of Present Mic.

“Take my picture with him and him” he shouts with glee.

Haruto practically spits out laughing “What?!”

“Oh I get ya!” Hizashi joins Izuku, standing either side of the cardboard Pro Hero “here take one for me too!!”

Both hand the teen their phones before posing a few times - peace symbols, jazz hands, catalogue posing, fake worshipping… when they’re done, Hizashi taps away “I’m sending it to the group chat”

Izuku is still staring at the cutout, smiling before he turns and pockets his phone so the three can carry on with the tour.

Just after they finish lunch, they say their goodbyes to the staff and head back to the car. Izuku still mumbling quietly about the staff member who’s quirk could manipulate the bass and treble of the sounds around her as they came out, she was even nice enough the answer all of his questions. “Today has been a great day Hiz… Pre… ummm Yamad-“

“UNCLE ZASHI!!” The man practically screams from the driver’s seat in the car, making the windows rattle.

The boys wince a little, shaking their heads to dispel the slight ringing. Despite the crazed noise, it fills his chest with a nice warmth, making his lips spread into a wide smile “Thank you uncle Zashi”

Monday brings the first dose of Haruto’s medication, the teen lays on the bed in the medical bay half upright with the drip attached to his arm while Izuku chews on his vitamin gummies. He’s worried about his big brother so he uses the opportunity to spam him with gifs and videos of cats. 

Cats freaking out about cucumbers - check. 

Cats pushing things off shelves - check

Cats making human sounding vomit noises - check

Cats getting brain freeze when eating ice cream - check

Cats knocking over small children - check - that, he notes, gets the biggest laugh so far. 

Cats attacking printers - check

“Do you think Tuna would hate printers?”

Izuku looks up from his phone at the other boy “I don’t know… we should check later”

“Good idea… its for science…”

“Yeaaa… for science”

After an hour they’re free to go, making their way to the staff room with lollies in their mouth. His brother isn’t complaining, maybe its all ok… with a steadying breath, Izuku smiles, ‘yeah it’s all ok.’

The rest of the week carries on with a routine of school work, lunch, reading and more school work until 3pm, then fitness or self defence training with Aizawa for an hour, then home. It’s a nice easy schedule, occasionally spotted with visits by the noisy Uncle and the excitable Aunt and then before they even know it, its Saturday morning and they’re helping move everything into their new apartment. 

Not surprisingly, it takes very little time to get everything moved in with the two Pro-Hero friends helping out. Both boys argue in the most unusual way about who gets the room with the slightly nicer view - 

“No you should take the room with a view” 

“No you’re older you should get it” 

“No you were on the streets longer you deserve it more” 

“No you had a harder time with your family” 

“No your dad was a violent dick” 

Izuku gasped at that “Zawa, Haruto said a naughty word!” 

Haruto gasped in response “You snitch! You’re definitely getting the room now, I’m a naughty child apparently!”

In the end it was settled with a simple game of rock, paper, scissors - Haruto being crowned the victor, grumbling as he went, dragging his two boxes into the room.

“Boys, come down for a second” Aizawa called from the stairs, so they both charged out of their rooms, colliding and stampeding down the steps making the man groan at their antics “You obviously need more furniture for your rooms so we can go out tomorrow and get some stuff but for now…” he dumped a big cardboard box on the floor that they hadn’t seen  before “Decorate the place for me… please… I’m taking a nap”

Both boys frowned in confusing, staring at the box, then at the hero who ambled over to his recliner, slipped into his sleeping bag, extended the chair and instantly shut his eyes.

They looked at each other, shrugged and knelt down beside the box. They didn’t see Aizawa secretly filming them as they opened it up and yipped.

“CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!!!” Izuku yelled, frantically pulling out tinsel and other bits and bobs “Quick! Decorate Tuna!!”

Four days later, Izuku came steaming down the stairs like a bat out of hell and into the living room, scaring the shit out of Tuna in the process so the cat dived on to Aizawa’s lap as the hero napped on the couch.

“Zawa! Christmas! It-I there- fwww-  look!” He scrambled onto the couch, gently but energetically shaking the hero and pointing at the kotatsu which had a small pile of presents.

The man rubbed his face and looked at his watch “Its 5:18am”

Izuku, still smiling, nodded vigorously.

“Hnnnnnnnn…” he got up and walked over to the kitchen “Go get your brother then”

Ten minutes later they were all sat on the little cushions as Aizawa sipped his steaming cup of coffee and the two boys cupped their own hot drinks. “Say… Zawa, how come you were asleep on the couch?” Izuku asked between gulps.

“Oh…” Izuku frowned when he saw the man look a little embarrassed “I don’t like sleeping downstairs… I realised I can’t hear you if you need me…”

The two boys looked at each other… they’d been perfecting their silent communication, so they both moved around in unison and gave the man a hug.

“Thanks for looking after us Zawa” Haruto whispered.

“You won’t be thanking me when I get a baby monitor for up there” he grumbled

“Oh har har… good joke right?” Haruto smirked… but his smile slowly faded when the hero just kept looking at him “…right?”

“So… presents?” Izuku interrupted making the hero laugh, happily nodding so that Izuku could push the gifts to the right person. The boys had two each, one from the hero, one from Tuna. 

They in turn, pushed a gift to him, making the hero’s brows raise in surprise “When did you get time for this?”

Haruto scratched the back of his head as he answered “when you got called out the day before yesterday for that quirk accident and Mr- uhh uncle Zashi came over, he took us for dinner at that cafe around the corner-“

“AND WE SAW MR BANG!” Izuku butted in

“Yes and we saw Mr Bang, while we were there we saw this and umm… yeah”

Aizawa pulled the wrapping paper off delicately, unsure if the kids were like those people who didn’t like to see the paper ripped to shreds. Inside was a large coffee mug with a black cat, a blue cat, a yellow cat, a green cat and a white cat, all in different poses around the side.

“Look its us and your friends! The blue cat isn’t purple” Izuku frowned “but its kind of like Auntie Nem… a-and look inside! Its got Tuna inside at the bottom!”

Pulling out the little bag of chocolate covered coffee beans revealed a sleeping cat printed inside.

“Thank you… this is really thoughtful”

A couple of hours later, Izuku was sat on the couch watching tv, with his new slippers on and pile of different coloured notebooks in front of him. At his side, Haruto had on his new fingerless gloves and wooly cat print socks. Both had tiny smiles on their faces as they waited for the chaos to begin.

Not even thirty seconds later, an almost violent rapping at the door make all three of them jump (four if you count tuna falling off the kitchen counter). So Izuku hopped up offering to answer it, running down the stairs with boundless energy. It was of course Nemuri and Hizashi, both with bundles of presents and…

“Is that….”

“For you little Izukuuuuu!”

And Izuku literally screamed, grabbing the item and pegging it back up the stairs.

“ZAWA LOOK!” He held out the life size cut out of Present Mic that he’d seen at the radio station 

“Oh my fucking god” the man groaned, flopping backwards onto the floor, covering his face with his arms in defeat. Haruto as usual, started wheezing with laughter.

“I’ve got my own Present Mic! I’m going to move him around the house. Sorry everyone, I’ve got a new best friend” the small boy bobbed around, dancing with the cut out

In the corner next to the stairs, Hizashi squealed, recording the whole thing on his phone, whisper shouting to Nemuri “This is the best Christmas evarrrr!!”

After things settled down, the two pseudo-relatives handed out gifts - a set of handcuff style bracelets and some Present Mic themed headphones for Haruto, a professionally made Eraserhead themed hoodie for Izuku (with scarf detail and little drawstrings on the hood that were the same yellow as his goggles) and for the days he’s not wearing the hoodie, a very pale grey knitted scarf, so he can always look like his favourite hero… and for the hero himself, the two had gotten him a collection of fireproof household items - oven mitts, potholders, small iron tongs for grabbing hot things. Of course the man scowls at the pair and the jokes go completely over Izuku and Haruto’s heads. 

Finally after all that settled down, Aizawa popped downstairs for something, saying he’d be right back. When he returned he handed a large envelope to each of the boys, sitting at the kotatsu with them again. After a little apprehension they both opened them. 

Izuku instantly burst into tears. First was the print out of rescinding of Izuku’s death, second was the certificate with his official name change to Izuku Aizawa, then documentation of Aizawa being their official guardian and finally for Izuku, his quirk certification

“Alis Ignis - quirk allows user to t-transform into winged creatures made of fire, user can alter temperature, user does not require su- sudst- sustenance while using this form, user can control the solidity of f-fire while using this form” Izuku stuttered with overflowing emotion. It was official. He was registered with a quirk. The wording made him frown in slight confusion “What does th- And creatures? Like not just a b-butterfly?”

“Nezu has some theories… we’ll test it out, don’t worry. And remember first we simply learn to activate and deactivate.” then he pulls a small plastic bag out from behind his back “Here is 8 pairs of undies, 8 vests and 2 pairs of fitted shorts… they said they’re like compression shorts”

Izuku took the bag pulling the items out “T-these… they’re from the support department? With my DRA?”

“DNA… yes… so when you turn back you won’t be naked. The day after tomorrow, we’ll head to UA and start quirk training”

Izuku felt numb as he plastered on a fake smile and nodded, the whole world going a little grey and cold. He couldn’t help but be terrified, despite all of Aizawa’s reassurances. But he had to believe things would be ok. He said they’d have a tub so he could turn himself back. He said he would be there the whole time and could deactivate his quirk. But what if… what if…

The rest of the day pulled him in to amusing situations and out of his spiralling thoughts. Hizashi and Nemuri entertaining the whole gang with their antics, Haruto putting his fingerless gloves on Tuna and laughing as the cat did backwards acrobatics in an attempt to get away from them, Nemuri temporarily swapping Aizawa’s chocolate covered coffee beans with chocolate covered sultana’s making the hero go on an almost murderous rampage. It was light and fun and the food was plentiful, so when bedtime rolled around, Izuku was out like a light…

When he woke up it was warm, like the sun was on his face, opening his eyes he found himself in the prettiest meadow with delicate purple flowers scattered amongst the lush green grass. It seems familiar somehow, hazy like a long forgotten memory making him feel even warmer. He was surrounded by singing birds and fluttering butterflies, as he giggled in his head, dancing with them floating around peacefully, spreading his wings and soaking in the heat… his wings… why does he have wings…

Izuku abruptly smashed into the chest of drawers with a bang, fluttering in panic. Water… he needs some water, he needs to turn back before everything sets on fire! The door was closed, he should try get to the bathroom or the kitchen but how can he when the door is closed!! Terror was flooding his brain so he still crashed into it repeatedly, a small thudding noise ringing out one, two, three, four times, leaving tiny singes where he hit. No! He needs to cool down, he can’t burn the place down and kill his brother and dad too! No!! NO!! 

He raced around the room in pure fear, crashing into his empty glass sending it hurtling off the chest of drawers and smashing on the floor. Oh no! No!!! He needs to keep afloat, he can’t touch anything in case it sets on fire but what will he do when he gets tired?

Before he can panic anymore the door is flung open, Aizawa standing with a frantic look on his face for a split second before he quickly activates his quirk. Izuku instantly turns back landing with a thud to the side of his futon, thankfully away from the broken glass. The teen looks at his shaking hands, his human hands before a devastated sob breaks from his chest. 

Aizawa hero shuffles forward quietly hoping not to frighten the teen anymore, crouching down, he whispers “I’m sorry for bursting in, I heard a thud and then a glass sma-“

Izuku lunged forward, flinging himself into the man’s arms “DAD!!” Izuku cried hard. His desperate heartbreaking sobs rang out through the room as tears flooded down his cheeks “Dad… I thought… I-I”

“Shhhhh” Aizawa stroked his fingers through the young boy’s curls “Its ok, nothing is on fire, you’re ok”

A few seconds later, Haruto carefully adds himself to the cuddle, helping calm the little boy down. Everyone was ok, nobody died, nothing burned, Aizawa’s quirk worked… it was all going to be ok. 

Chapter Text

Shouta was laying back on the recliner, reading through the brochure for a school in the area when he heard a distant thud come from upstairs. Its not enough to send him running or anything, because they’re not babies, they’re old enough to look after themselves…

Another quieter thud floats down the stairs, repeating a few times. He sits up, a slight frown on his face as he looks behind him, expecting… something…

The sound of a glass smashing barely reached him before he was darting off, running full pelt up the stairs, two at a time. Somehow he instinctively knew it would be from Izuku’s room, so he flung the door open. 

Flapping frantically in the middle of the room was a stunningly beautiful butterfly made of red, orange and flecks of yellow flame. Despite the tiniest desire to observe it more, he activated his quirk, watching Izuku materialise and land with a heavy thud just off the side of his futon. The poor boy burst into incontrollable sobs, he couldn’t help but start to move forward, whispering “I’m sorry for bursting in, I heard a thud and then a glass sma-“

Izuku thrust forward into his arms “DAD!!”

Despite his brain screeching to a halt, he wrapped firm arms around the boy, holding him tight as his body shook with heavy cries. He pulled his hand back and gently brushed his palm across Izuku’s cheek, wiping away the rivers of tears before threading his fingers into tangled locks.

“Dad… I thought… I-I”

‘Oh poor baby, he must have been terrified of repeating what happened with his mother’

The thought broke his heart “Shhhhh, its ok, nothing is on fire, you’re ok”

Over the soft cries, he heard Haruto’s door open and soft footsteps approaching before the teen gently wrapped his arms around the two, slotting his chin on the crown of Izuku’s head.

“Did you want to come down and sit on the couch? I’ll clean this up” he said quietly to the boys, slowly pulling back from the crushing hug.

Haruto met his eyes and nodded, gently coercing his little brother away from the bedroom and heading downstairs. Shouta looked around the room, not just noting the smashed glass beside the dresser but the little scorch mark on the wood. He felt like an idiot, why didn’t he fireproof everything in the room, not just his bedsheets. 

He slowly dragged his hand down his face, moving the door and noting the four little scorch marks. “I need to get…” he mumbled quietly, scratching his stubble “A panic button? Or a bell? Maybe a fireproof perch, fireproof the door, curtains, chest of drawers…” he turned, looking around the room and pulling his phone out of his pockets to make a list “Fire proof the flooring…”

After breathing out a little sigh, he went downstairs and into the kitchen cupboard, grabbing the dustpan. The boys were curled up together with Tuna on the couch, pulling the spare blanket over themselves while Haruto whispered soft reassurances. He couldn’t help the guilt pooling in his gut ‘why didn’t I plan for something like this… my poor-‘ 

Shouta’s steps faltered as he made his way back to Izuku’s bedroom, remembering being called dad. His ears went red as tears began to prick his eyes ‘He called me dad. Twice!’ Despite the heartbreaking situation when it had happened, the rush of joy and pride was overwhelming. 

He bent down and began cleaning up the glass, with a small smile on his face.

“Izuku, are you ok?” Shouta said in his softest voice as he sat on the couch next to the boys.

Izuku nodded, still sniffing slightly. Haruto was wrapped protectively around him despite looking exhausted.

He reached over and put a hand on the boy’s knee “Haruto do you want to stick around while we talk or do you want to go back to bed? You look pretty tired kid”

“Its ok oniichan, you can go to bed… I-I’m ok” Izuku whispered, nuzzling Haruto’s shoulder before pulling back and giving a tiny smile “Go sleep so that you can look after me when I’m tired tomorrow.”

The teen eyed the two suspiciously for a moment before relenting with a little nod and putting Tuna on the boys lap and getting up “Don’t push yourself Zu” he says as he roughly pats Izuku’s head and trots off to bed.

The minute the teen is upstairs Izuku turns and looks at Shouta, blushing a little “I umm… I’m sorry for… y’know, calling you ummm”

Shouta butts in before the boy stresses himself out unnecessarily “Izuku…” he takes a deep breath and pulls the boy to his chest for a warm hug “somewhere along the line, I started thinking of you both as my kids.” He feels the Izuku press a little closer to his chest, arms around his back pulling a little tighter as if he’s worried about getting bad news “If you want to call me dad, I will do everything in my power to be the absolute best dad there is, because honestly, it would be an honour to call you both my sons”

He feels little fists grip his shirt as even more sobs wrack the little body in his arms “T-thank y-you for s-saving me” Izuku cries, tears making a little damp patch on his shirt.

The two melt into each other on the couch, relief to be accepted probably for both of them making this simple hug seem so important. 

After a few minutes they sit side by side, the only sound in the room is the purring coming from Tuna in Izuku’s arms.

“Did it start with another dream? Do you want to tell me about it?” He pries gently

After taking a deep shuddered breath Izuku nods “Yeah, I remember it a little more this time… there was- I was in a meadow with flowers and singing birds and butterflies but… I… while I was dreaming it all seemed so familiar but I wasn’t sure, but it was more about the feeling, the warmth, the sounds… but I know now… I’ve been there before… with Kacchan”

“This is… a friend?”

“He was my best friend… until my quirk never came in. We used to go to the field because of the butterflies, we would jump around a-and play… and h-he would catch my favourite ones… it was” Izuku coughed, rubbing his throat “It was nice… I always missed it after… y’know…”

He nodded “Do you think that’s why your quirk manifested as butterflies? Because its… was it one of your favourite memories?”

Izuku smiled wistfully “It was so nice, even when Kacchan first got his quirk, we still went. He’d brag and go on about how awesome his was and stuff but I didn’t mind… he still went out of his way to look for my favourite coloured butterflies with reds and oranges”

“Like the Monarch?”

The boy froze “Oh… yeah I suppose so, yeah.” He looked down at his hands, rubbing his fingers together, as Shouta watched closely “I saw one near the school once. I ran out into… oh my god”

He noticed the way the boy’s little hands suddenly curled up into fists “Take a deep breath… you’re safe, everyone is ok”

“The day my quirk came in… I forgot!” He started sobbing again, angrily rubbing those little fists against his face, very roughly shoving knuckles into his tearful eyes.

Shouta grabbed his hands, holding them in one while using his thumb to softly rub away the tear tracks on the boy’s cheeks “Take a deep breath, we don’t have to talk about it if you-“

“NO!.. Sorry, I- please? I just want to g-get… get…”

“Alright, take your time… I’m here” he reassured

“I remember… it was t-that butterfly, I was walking home from school… Kacchan used to live a couple of streets over from me so I would either try get out of school as fast as possible… or stay late to… well… so he- so they didn’t bother me. I guess that day he must’ve got out fast too. I didn’t really know he was behind me, I can get in my own world y’know” Izuku gave a sad little laugh that just made his heart want to crack even more. 

“I saw the butterfly and didn’t even think, I- I just ran out into the road towards it. I didn’t even see the truck.” The boy sat forward, putting his elbows on his knees, staring at the turned off television… or perhaps just staring off into a memory “Kacchan grabbed me and pulled me out of the way… I-I thought he was so amazing, I always did… but there in that moment, he actually saved me! But… he- he called me stupid Deku, said he was saving the butterfly that was in my hand, said it had more value in the world than a worthless quirkless idiot”

Shouta fought hard to keep his anger at bay, pushed down the urge to yell and demand to know who this shithead was, resist hunting the brat down. His lips were pushed into a thin line, teeth clenched… how dare that asshole say those horrible things to his son. How dare he! “Thats a horrible thing to say Izuku, he was wrong… you know that right? You’re not worthless and definitely not an idiot! You have so so much value ok?”

Izuku looked into his eyes, those big green eyes looked so damn sad. It just wasn’t fair the hardships this kid had been through “That night was when my- my quirk came in… I saw him at my funeral you know. He went with his mom”

A small flicker of hope flourished in his chest that maybe the asshole felt remorse for his appalling behaviour, but deep down he knew that probably wasn’t the case.

“He was complaining about having to go. And I was s-so annoyed that h-he couldn’t even just get through my funeral without being mean! B-but then his mom… I used to call her Auntie! She!…” Izuku’s breathing picked up a little so Shouta began rubbing small circles into his back “She told him to at least have sym-sip-s.-“

“Sympathy”

“Yeah, have some sympathy for my m-mom because she didn’t deserve to die… like as if I did! As if it d-didn’t matter that I was dead!!” Izuku built up, raising his voice as he got more agitated “it was s-soooo sad that my mom was dead but not u-useless Deku!”

The boy started crying hard again, pushing into his arms for more hugs “no Izuku, they were wrong, so so wrong. You’re one of the most important people in the world to me and your brother. Heck, you’ve got most of the UA staff wrapped around your finger. Hizashi would announce his mourning to the whole world if anything ever happened to you. Can you imagine how loud he would cry!?” He tried perking him up, it might not be one of his strengths but he’ll pretty much do anything right now to pull Izuku out of this depression, make him see his value as a human being. “We love you so much” 

Izuku shook in the embrace. Slowly, he calmed down, his tears slowing, his little hiccups petering out. Finally after a while, he felt the boy grow slack as his breathing slowed. ‘Poor little thing, worn himself out’

After a few minutes he pulled him down and slipped out of the hold so they Izuku was laying on the couch, then pulled the fireproof blanket down around him. Despite his maddening desires to find that Kacchan kid and his family, he knew he had to focus on helping Izuku get over this. And train his quirk so accidents didn’t happen that left the kid in a spiral of panic and despair… so quirk training and counselling.

That day, the two boys were quieter than usual, either from exhaustion or heavy emotions. Lunch was a simple affair, ordered from the cafe but in an attempt to break to funk, he sent the two out on their first “big boy” mission to fetch it all on their own. When they returned Izuku was a little brighter, apparently receiving cookies from a nice older lady who was waiting for Mr Bang. He knew exactly who they were talking about, he should send the boys over to help her around the garden, if they were going to make friend in the community, what better than Bang’s girlfriend, he thought.

In the afternoon they watched some crazy old Donald Duck and Goofy cartoons for the slapstick comedy aspect. Even Tuna was trying to try cheer them up, having a little manic episode with a random patch on the wall. This inspired the boys to start testing “cat theories” much to Shouta’s amusement. After dinner, while they were distracted with orange peel, he took out his phone to order things from his list, message updates to Nezu and reply to his idiot friends in the group chat.  Then something else occurred to him.

“Guys I’m just going to my office to make a phone call, ‘kay?”

“No probs” the boys chimed back, so he casually wandered down the stairs.

He needed to let Tsukauchi and the agency know he wouldn’t be back patrolling next week like he’d said. The was no way he could go out until Izuku had his quirk under control, even with leaving Hizashi or Bang to babysit, they couldn’t turn off his quirk and he wasn’t going to let the kid be traumatised anymore if he could help it. He also didn’t want Izuku to know he was postponing his return to work for his sake, the little greenie was too sensitive to things like that - hence the privacy of his office. 

Once he finished up he made his way out of the office quietly, hearing hushed voices coming from the living room upstairs. He knew it was rude to eaves drop but with how quiet they’d been, he felt it could be something important so he went still as a statue and listened.

“I know it was really scary and it upset you so much… but damn I wish I could’ve seen his face” Haruto whispered, finishing with a laugh

There was a thud, quickly followed by the teen laughing even harder ‘Ah Izuku hit him then’

“I don’t know, I was too busy freaking out… I did talk to him about it later though, after you’d gone to bed”

Shouta frowned ‘are they talking about his quirk? No, Haruto wouldn’t be laughing about that… and if Izuku is hitting him… he’s embarrassed?’

“Ohhhh what did he say? Did he look like he was constipated?” The teen laughed again

“Oh my god you’re terrible.” There was a choking noise followed by Haruto saying ok over and over, then Izuku carried on “We had a moment ok. He said and I qu- uhhh qu- speech marks? What…”

“You quote”

“Yeah he said, and this is a quote because I memorised it - he said ‘I would be honoured to call you both my sons’”

Silence

‘Oh they’re talking about calling me Dad…’

He frowned… then pressed his lips into a tight, irritated line.

‘I didn’t look like I was fucking constipated! That little shit!’

“Well damn… that’s sweet” Haruto redeemed himself in that moment.

“Yeah… he’s so nice. I really want him to be my dad, do you think he’ll adopt us one day?” Izuku’s little voice was so soft and hopeful.

Shouta had butterflies now ’Absolutely’

“Well if he said that then yeah sure! I… I think I need to talk to him… he’s good to talk to right? He’s not gonna make fun of me”

“Yeah for sure! I trust him so much… but what’s wrong? You can talk to me too”

‘Fuck, what next’

Haruto could be heard whining “Well… I dunno, its embarrassing…”

‘Uh oh’

“Its ok I swear I won’t laugh” Izuku replied softly

“I think my penis is broken”

Shouta face palmed intensely. Of course now he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Let the boys try figure it out for themselves and get it horribly wrong or intervene and have the most awkward conversation of his life. He cautiously looked up at the stairs.

“What do you mean it's broken? Are you having trouble peeing?”

‘Oh that’s smart… I didn’t think of that, what if he’s got a UTI?’

“No that’s fine… its umm well when I wake up in a morning-“

‘Intervene!!!’

“Hey boys” he called in a state of panic from the genkan “If you’re showering or bathing before bed, you should probably start to get ready”

Then he started taking slow, dramatic, noisy steps up to the living room as the two hissed and scrambled around. When he reached the couch, Haruto looked like he wanted to crawl in a hole and die. “You want to go first Izuku, Haruto can you feed Tuna please”

Izuku set off in a sprint, calling back down the stairs “Sure” 

Now the problem was how to broach this without making it obvious that he’d been listening… “So, what were you rascals chatting about while I was on the phone?”

‘Smooth Shouta’

Haruto’s eyes went comically wide so he added on “You know you can come to be about anything right? I’m here for both of you ok?”

The teen nodded and sighed “Remember recovery girl said some stuff might start happening… well… my ummm… hnnnnnggg this is the worst”

“Oh believe me I know”

And then they proceeded to have the most awkward conversation of his entire life. Knowing full well he’d have to do it again in a few years with Izuku. 

‘Shit I really am a dad’

The next day Izuku was obviously full of nervous energy, talking a mile a minute, anxiously bouncing his leg while sitting on the couch and dropping things because his hands were jittery. They both showered him with reassurances and hugs but it was obvious he wasn’t going to calm down until the quirk training was over and done with. 

Shortly after breakfast everyone was heading out of the front door and into the car. Shouta put on some music in hopes that it would either calm the kid down or at least entertain him enough so he wouldn’t talk their heads off.

It didn’t work, but the journey was literally a few minutes thanks to their new closer apartment, so now they found themselves inside Gym Gamma with Nezu. Izuku was dressed in his special shorts and vest set, specifically created for his quirk training sessions as opposed to the things he wore under his clothes or to bed. These clothes fit much more snug but Izuku didn’t seem to mind. 

Shouta stepped up and sat next to him on the edge of the little pool that Cementoss had created. Izuku was too busy staring vacantly into the water to really notice him. It was about 5ft in diameter and about 3 foot deep, kind of like a spa. Leaning forward and dipping his hand in, he was rather disgruntled to find the water wasn’t warm, at all.

Nezu chuckled behind them “I’m sorry Aizawa, or should I say Izuku and Shouta seen as you are both Aizawa now” the rat was obviously amused by his own antics so he pulled his hand out and flicked water at Haruto who was grumbling about god knows what. 

The principle continued over the top of Haruto’s further complaining “I figure this would be good incentive to figuring out how to turn the quirk off, nobody wants a cold bath right?”

Izuku just dead stared the rat, it impressed him, made him feel proud that someone so adorably cute could pull of such a glare ‘my boys’

“Now perhaps Haruto would be able to help by telling us how he activates his quirk, what it feels like and importantly, how he then stops it”

The agitated teen sighed before he nodded and came a little closer to the group “When I first started as a little kid, I would try to visualise it in my head, picture exactly what I wanted to happen, imagined my quirk flowing from my heart down my arms towards my hands, then I’d open up my hands, palm up and think about pushing that flow outwards. When I wanted to stop, I’d try think of it like breathing in a sucking deep breath but with the quirk and then I’d clamp my hands shut. Now its more like second nature-“

Haruto held up his hand and sent a burst of fire upwards from his open palm, bright blue and dazzling, the heat waves pouring off it were intense enough for Nezu to take a step back. But it barely lasted a couple of seconds and it was gone again, that upturned palm now closed in to a fist, turned down and pushing out towards Izuku for a fist bump.

“You got this baby bro”

Izuku gets this look of determination and honestly, its incredible, it actually makes him feel even prouder of the kid. After everything he’d been through and how terrified this whole situation was making him, he was standing up with bravery painted on those cute freckled cheeks, strength of will sparkling in those emerald eyes.

“I can do this” 

Nothing happens to start with when Izuku closes his eyes, he stretches his arms out straighter, jutting out just slightly from his sides. He can tell he’s trying to visualise it like his brother said, pushing this force out from his heart to his hands but Izuku’s quirk is different so he thinks about what Izuku saw both times he activated it.

“Izuku… can you picture that meadow for me?”

The boy flinched ever so slightly before frowning and nodding so he continued

“Can you remember that warm sunlight on your face, the birds are singing and you’re in the most lovely meadow with pretty flowers”

Its only a few seconds more before Izuku begins to glow a deep but stunning green before his body seem to almost vaporise into a dense green smoke that pours to the floor like liquid, dispersing into nothing in a fraction of a second and left in the air, is the monarch butterfly, glowing with orange, red and yellow fire, fluttering beautifully.

“Quite fascinating” Nezu quietly whispers

“That’s great Izuku, I’m going to count to five then I’m going to activate my quirk. If you can think about pulling yourself back during that time, we’ll see if you can turn it off on your own”

He looks at the other two then starts counting “One… two… three… four… five”

A quick flash of glowing eyes and Izuku reappears in another puff of green smoke, landing harshly on his butt

“Owww… can we get a cushion…” the boy seems initially distracted by the pain of landing on his butt, on the hard concrete after falling from about 4ft high before he suddenly looks up “OH MY GOD I DID IT!” 

Izuku runs over and dives in for a cuddle with him and Haruto, babbling nonsense at a speed nobody can really make out. After a couple of minutes the boy calms down “great job Izuku… did you try using Haruto’s method to stop?”

“Oh no, I was too… y’know… I’ll try again…” Izuku stepped back but stopped “I think… I mean… I don’t think pulling it back in like sucking in a breath is going to work, I’m a small… what if… let me…” Izuku dissolved into incomprehensible muttering.

“What’s he doing?” Whispered Haruto

“Fascinating” Whispered Nezu

“Izuku?”

“Oh! Sorry… so give me until the count of ten ok?”

Izuku then stepped back again, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Just like before, like a solid subliming into gas, the butterfly appeared. Shouta released the breath he didn’t realise he was holding and began to count out loud, but this time he only got to four before Izuku reappeared, again crashing into the floor

“Ahhhh my buuuuuutttttttttt” 

“Ok ok great work Izuku but next time maybe change back from higher up so you can either correct your landing - just like we’ve been working on with sparring-“

“LIKE TUNA!” Interrupts Haruto loudly

“Or high enough so one of us can catch you” Shouta finished

As he looked over he could see Nezu had a gleam in his eye and he didn’t like that look one bit… but he didn’t say anything as the rat stepped forward to query “What did you figure out Izuku? Your talent for quirk analysis seems to have worked in your favour”

Izuku blushed at the compliment “Ummm the way Haruto worded it, like as if the quirk was something separate to me, flowing through me, something that could… I thought that if I pull myself in, it could take my place and likewise, if I push myself back out to be me again. I never thought of it that way before” 

The boy’s face was filled with sorrow and regret, as if he was thinking about all that time spent as a butterfly could have been avoided… “Don’t be sad Izuku… think of where you are now and who you are with.”

“Thanks dad” 

He felt warm and fuzzy again watching Izuku get a soft smile, the frown disappearing. But out of the corner of his eye he could see the cheeky teen to his right looking at him with the biggest shit eating grin “Haruto stop being a turd”

Izuku and his brother both burst out laughing.

Never one to miss an opportunity, Nezu stepped forward with a cluster of papers in his paws “I’m glad to see this is going so well, perhaps we can try a couple more thin-“

Barely holding back a growl he cut in “Nezu, lets just stick to the basics today. Izuku can just practice activating and deactivating the quirk. We aren’t even sure of the quirk drawbacks apart from the mineral deficiencies”

“No its ok… I’m curious to see what he has in mind” Izuku stepped forward to look at the paper, missing the way Nezu’s smug look… as if a rat can look smug… 

“Obviously you should, like Aizawa said, practice activating and deactivating a few times but perhaps we could see how you go changing the temperature of your flames” Nezu pulled a temperature gun seemingly out of nowhere “And we have some fire resistant mesh to see if you can phase through, and over there” he pointed across the gym “I had Cementoss create some small openings of different shapes to see if you can manipulate the shape of your fire to fit through. I also would be interested in seeing if you could say run - phase - fly - phase - run if you know what I mean.”

‘I want to kill Nezu… hhhoooohhhhh I want to kill him so bad…’

“That’s great and I think you said something about winged creatures in my quirk description, oh cool name by the way, it’s Latin!” Izuku chatted happily, completely missing the way Shouta was desperately pulling in his murderous urges.

‘Also, how the fuck can this kid not know the word sympathy but knows Latin? What the-‘

“Hey Zu, why don’t you just turn your quirk on and off for a bit, you can do the wacky stuff after lunch right?” 

Shouta wanted to hug Haruto, give the damn kid a medal. Of course he would get through to his brother like no-one else. And the rat isn’t going to risk ignoring or going against him because then Shouta really would have to find somewhere to bury him for pushing one son too far and ignoring or being rude to the other… nobody messes with Shouta’s boys.

“Great idea Haruto” Shouta shot the teen a look that said I will buy you anything ever, I love you son.

After a very successful morning and a hastily devoured lunch, the group was once again in Gym Gamma, watching as Izuku’s shimmering flames gradually darkened to brown and burgundy colours. 

The coolest temperature he managed to reach was around 300°C, his dark flames still hot but nothing like a normal fire. Gradually he got hotter, working to reds around 600°C, oranges around 900°C, yellows around 1200°C and finally a mix of yellows and whites around 1500°C.

“What are you thinking about when you burn hottest?” Haruto asked cautiously

“Umm…” Izuku chewed the side of his thumb as he thought. The boy looked tired, Shouta would absolutely be putting his foot down about testing any other wild theories today “Just about feeling hot, like the sun I guess?”

Haruto lifted his hand, demonstrating just like before except when his flames burst out they were reds and oranges, tiny bits of white flickering in the core of the fire. It looked like Endeavors flames, more controlled but still brutally hot “When I calm my mind and just think about creating fire, it comes out like his” the teen said, a little bitterness in his voice “But when I pour my heart into it, my emotions, my desperation” the flames flickered viciously, the white taking over and wild violent blue rushing out in an uncontrolled manner “Then it gets hotter”

Izuku looks sad, his eyes pool with unshed tears. Shouta doesn’t want to spook the teen but the wording he used makes his heart crack “What are you desperate for Haruto?”

The flames flicker more, suddenly getting bigger making them step back from the waves of intense heat. Then just like that, its gone. Then teen shakes his head for barely a second before Izuku runs in for a cuddle. He’s not sure if he should be privy to their hushed conversation, Nezu certainly knows he’s not so he quietly slinks away.

“I just want to be seen, I want to be more than a failed creation, I want to have value, have purpose, I want to be part of a family… I want to be loved”

Shouta steps forward and wraps his arms around the boys… after a few moments he whispers “you have all of these things Haruto, I promise you do. And you are part of a family, part of Izuku’s family, part of my family. You are loved… you are loved”

The teen shakes with small quiet cries as he holds them both “Come on, lets go home”

Chapter Text

After school Aizawa took them to the pet shop, he said he wanted to get a new collar for Tuna but he knew that the guy was trying to cheer him up. After all, their last visit to the pet shop was fun and playing with Tuna that evening was even more fun.

While Izuku and Aizawa went to the collar section, he wandered around the store with the little robotic bug toy already in hand. He figured he might as well go look at the fish or something, but when he turned around the corner at the end of the aisle he collided with another teen. 

With a huffing noise the other boy steps back, a weird combination of disinterest and annoyance on his face. The two look at each other, neither apologising.

The other teen has slightly longer black spikey hair, is oddly almost the exact same height, he’s dressed in equally dark ‘angsty’ clothing, heck they even have a similar jaw shape but Haruto notices the other boy has beautiful eyes lined with luscious long lashes. Despite his irises being a dark blue almost black colour, they seem bright, probably because of how open they are. An unfamiliar feeling bubbles in his chest that makes him panic a little.

‘Wait… beautiful eyes?… What?’

“Umm sorry for bumping into you I guess” He mutters out, struggling to keep gazing into the other boy’s eyes and not stare at the floor.

The other teen slumps even further into that uninterested, bored look “You guess? Wow.”

And then he’s gone, slipping away from the grasp he didn’t even have and out of the pet shop.

Haruto stared after the boy for slightly longer than necessary before snapping out of the daze “Shit. What am I doing?”

That night Haruto had trouble falling sleep, Izuku and Aizawa were being kind and gentle, breaking down the walls he’d put up with affection but the teen still had his inner demons. It was getting better of course but the whole concept of quirk training bought up a lot of bad memories and in hind sight he felt guilty for being so grumpy both in the morning and when Izuku started training in Gym Gamma. Still, it was hard, especially when he felt so damn hormonal.

When he does fall asleep he sees black hair shaped into long spiny spikes, pretty lashes and flushed cheeks before waking with a start. It felt like he’d only been asleep ten seconds even though the shining sun indicated it was actually morning. And that’s when he noticed the uncomfortable mess in his boxer shorts and all over the sheets. 

‘Oh god’ he peeks inside then immediately starts to panic ‘I need to go put a wash on, its everywhere. I need a shower. I stink of…’

His brain goes back to the awkward talk with Aizawa from two days ago and he groans “noooooooooo”

Of course, ten minutes later when he’s cleaned himself off with tissues and changed into fresh undies, he’s stuffing the bedding and soiled boxers into the washing machine when Aizawa appears at the door.

‘Don’t ask don’t ask don’t ask’

The man’s eyes widen, staring at the laundry, before quickly shifting to stare at his cup of coffee with those same wide eyes. Thankfully he simply says good morning and very quickly exits the room and goes upstairs.

‘Good man.’

Strangely enough, twenty minutes later after a quick shower, he’s sat at the kotatsu eating a bowl of cereal when the downstairs front door is flung open. Aizawa dives off the couch so damn fast it makes him snort milk out of his nose.

“Why do you have a key Nemuri!” He shouts from the top of the stairs, arms holding on to the wall and the bannister defensively blocking any access to the living room

The woman starts ascending the stairs casually “I took a mould of it while you were asleep the other day. Now then-“

“no, absolutely not” Aizawa butts in. 

At this point Izuku has stumbled down from his bedroom and is sitting on the stools at the kitchen counter next to cardboard Mic. The little boy is such a dazed mess it makes Haruto chuckle as he wipes the milk from his upper lip and nostrils.

“Haruto darling I can help-“ the woman reaches the top of the stairs and starts ducking under Aizawa’s arms and pushing to try get through.

“No, fuck no” the man grunts.

“When you think about girls and boys what is it that sets your loins on fire” she dodges an elbow to the head. 

“What are loins?” Ah Izuku, so cute with his little questions. 

It does make him frown though, thinking about pork loins so he asks the boy “Do you think she means a cut of pork? I’ve heard of pork loins. Why would thinking about people make me burn dinner?”

“ITS NOTHING NEMURI JUST CAME TO BORROW SUGAR AND IS NOW LEAVING!” Haruto notes that Aizawa looks a little sweaty.

“When you see chains and whips, how do-“ Nemuri dodges a forearm aimed at her face

“I fucking hate you” the man grumbled corralling her down the stairs, harshly whispering “You’re not allowed to talk to him about that until he’s sixteen, he doesn’t need to know the traffic light system of safe words yet!”

Haruto looked at Izuku again, both shrugging, so while Aizawa wrestles the woman back out of the apartment, he gets up and slips Cardboard Mic into the pantry, angled so that it will slap the hero in the face when he opens the door.

Izuku looks puzzled, either by his actions or lingering thoughts about pork chops “Why?” 

‘Why not’

Haruto shrugged and sat back down to finish his cereal.

Thirty seconds later he dumped the bowl in the sink and headed back upstairs to get some things from his room ready to take to UA for the day. He keeps his door open though, then just a couple of minutes later, takes great joy in hearing a ‘donk’ noise, a loud yell and then Izuku screeching about it not hurting his best friend.

Later that day they return to Gym Gamma for Izuku’s continued quirk training. Haruto pushes down any worry and stress that linger from brutal memories and instead tries to focus on his brother’s amazing progress. 

Changed temperature - check

Phasing through the grating - check

Moving through different shape gaps in the concrete - check, kind of, mostly

Solidifying the flames - check, that one was his idea and he got a brilliant warmth in his chest when he was praised for the suggestion. 

Phasing between human and butterfly, quickly while moving - after several cuts and bruises - check

While Izuku is going through all of his trials he’s supposed to be reading an algebra booklet, but it’s so boring that he just keeps watching his brother. ‘Maybe I should be training my own quirk… but what for? I don’t want to be a hero’

“Haruto, how are you feeling today? Math work can be tiresome I imagine” Nezu pops out of nowhere, sitting on the bench next to him

“Uhh yeah I’m fine I guess” then teen keeps his eyes on Izuku, not quite trusting the rat enough to give him his full attention.

“Have you thought about your career options yet? I know Izuku is probably keen to go into underground heroics like Aizawa and his keen sense of analysis will work well for him in that situation”

Haruto sighs, finally pulling back from his elbow on knees slump and sits more upright “I don’t want to be a hero. I want to help people though, like Izuku did for me… and Zawa I guess but I don’t want to be a hero” he struggled to stop his voice going growly at the end. ‘Flashy quirk oh you want to be a hero of course, its always the same’ 

“Oh yes that much is obvious.” A tinkly little laugh slips from the rodent’s lips “Have you heard of the role of Heroic Support Technician?” 

Haruto frowns “a what?”

“Ah precisely why I think you’d be perfect for the job. You see, the support technician works solely on missions, completely out of the public eye and despite having almost identical training to a hero, they do not get the fame and recognition, especially from the Hero Commission - who are not involved in their work.”

It sounded interesting so he didn’t stop the principle continuing

“They support the heroes behind the scenes with mission strategies and plans, they assist from the sidelines providing first aid and organising which type of back up is required like police or fire services, they work on profiling with both hero agencies and the police. A keen intellect is required and in most cases a strong dislike for the politics of heroics” the rat bursts out laughing at the end like a maniac.

‘Weirdo’

“Yeah sounds good I guess” 

“I think it sounds like your exact cup of tea”

‘Smug bastard’

The rest of the week continues much the same with Izuku training but now he spends an hour with Recovery Girl learning basic first aid. The next week things return a little more to normal with school work during the day, basic fitness or self defence training in the afternoon. Now for an hour during the week, instead of fitness and on Saturday’s, they do quirk training, again with some time learning first aid.

After half of the apartment and all of Izuku’s bedroom is fireproofed and a panic button in Izuku’s room is installed that sets of an alarm in Aizawa’s room, the living room and Haruto’s room, Aizawa returns to patrolling. Initially, Hizashi comes to baby sit but after a disastrous attempt at reading them bedtime stories, they all agree that the kids are old enough to be left on their own. So long as they promise to call Aizawa or Hizashi (or Bang who was now a contact in their phones) in an emergency.

In the blink of an eye, its February and Haruto’s 14th birthday comes around. As promised, Nemuri takes him for some piercings. Izuku tags along (and Aizawa because he’s still mad at the woman about that pork loin incident for some reason) so he can ask the lady with the healing quirk some questions. 

“You can get a maximum of five piercings at once. My quirk can heal impalement type injuries” the blonde lady says (beside him Izuku is bursting with the unfulfilled desire to spew questions out) “So the metal of the piercing needle goes in and comes out the other side, we move the jewellery into place and twist it a little while using my quirk. It feels a little itchy but other than that its fine”

“Most of my nerve endings are still a bit fried anyways so my sense of pain is still a bit dull” he mumbled. And it was true, they were two months into his weekly treatments and his organ damage is well on the way to being fixed but the nerves seem to be taking longer. His burnt skin is doing surprisingly well, there was apparently a risk it could darken but its almost the same colour as his healthy skin, just the texture makes it more noticeable. His tear ducts were finally fixed too so when things get the better of him once in a while, he can cry without pain or blood. He didn’t even realise how much that meant to him until he had an accident at quirk training and burnt Izuku’s elbow, instantly braking down in tears. 

“Do you work at the hospital too?” Izuku blurts out his question like he has no control of his mouth, effectively pulling Haruto out of his thoughts.

“Yes, I am on call for emergencies at Musutafu General. Now then, we’ve got your father’s permission so what would you like?”

‘Father…’ he blinks, taking a breath sharply before he realises she means Aizawa, mistaking him for his… ‘well… he kind of is… isn’t he?’

He shakes his head “Right… umm…” he looks at the board with diagrams of piercings “upper Helix, lower Helix, on both sides…”

“Don’t forget we can come back again darling, maybe we can celebrate you boys starting school” Nemuri added, ignoring the slight growl from Aizawa

“Nose for the last one… I’d like to eventually get three there… and more in that upper ear part… and my bottom lip… oh and my tongue”

Nemuri squealed at the same time that Aizawa groaned. Looking at the diagram he just felt like he could make himself into something he wanted, something cut from a different cloth to everyone else. He wasn’t Touya, he’s Haruto, he’s different and he’s going to own it rather than try and blend in with the scars. 

So after an irritatingly itchy set of piercings, they went off to get dinner at a cool restaurant with graffiti on the walls. 

“You look so cool Haruto! I don’t think I’d get piercings, they’d come out when I used my quirk, oh can we go to the bookshop, I want to get a book about creatures with wings. I know I’ve not managed it yet but I think I go butterfly mode because I’m really into butterflies so maybe if I learn about other things I can change into them too!” Izuku babbled excitedly, putting a smile on his face.

It was really pleasant, staring out of the window he could see people wandering past, scarves pulled up as the last of winter held everyone in an icy grip. He was glad he was in the warm re-

‘Its that boy again, pretty eyes boy…’

He went wide eyed, blatantly staring at the teen out of the window as the boy walked down the street, black scarf looped several times around his neck.

‘He’s even got nice lips… what the hell am I thinking about his lips for?!’

“Haruto what are you looking at, you’re bluuuuushing” the feminine purr floats towards his ears.

‘Shitshitshitshit’

“Nothing” He schooled a look of disinterest just like that boy when he turned back ‘stop thinking about him dammit’

“Oh I seeeee” she wiggled a pointy finger at him and he had the sudden overwhelming urge to snap it off and shove it down her throat

“Nemuri, don’t tease him when he’s raging with teenage hormones. If he sets you on fire I will look the other way until you’re a pile of ash”

Haruto smirks, he likes Aizawa.

The next week Aizawa pops out while they’re having breakfast, saying to call if they need anything. When he gets back he puts a new xbox and a Nintendo on the coffee table. 

“Ummm… what?” Haruto is pretty confused. Why is the hero suddenly splashing out a bunch of cash on gaming systems.

“Uhhh so I enrolled you both in at schools. Izuku you’re at Narau Elementary school, its about a twenty minute walk or you can get the bus at the top of the street. Haruto you’re at Manabu Middle school… that’s about the same distance, they’re actually only about two streets apart, again, bus at the top of the street” Aizawa nods but there’s an air of nervousness about him. Probably because Haruto had never been to a school before - only homeschooled and Izuku had extremely bad school experiences ‘oh I get it’

“Oh you’re expecting a meltdown so you wanted to distract us with bribes” the teen says nonchalantly. 

Izuku looks at Haruto with a gobsmacked expression. Ok so maybe it was a little rude, but whatever.

“Thank you so much dad” Izuku smiles at the hero then glares a little at the teen.

“Ok I’ve got to do some paperwork in my office, seen as you think you’re soooo smart Haruto, I’ll let you set these both up while I’m gone” then he starts stomping down the stairs, grumbling about emo teenagers or something. 

Something similar happens when he’s lounging on the couch one night watching an anime on his laptop. Aizawa keeps looking at him and he can feel his temper flaring up.

“What?” He finally snaps

“Whatcha watching?” The hero leans over so he pulls his laptop away, protecting it like its his newborn child. This of course makes Aizawa’s eyes narrow in suspicion.

“Ughhhh its just an anime, gooooddddhhhh! I’m going to my room to listen to some music”

‘Stupid dad always getting in my face, I didn’t do anything, there’s romance sure but ughhhh go away’

As he dumps his laptop on the coffee table and starts to go towards the stairs he looks back at Izuku, who is wide eyed and eating popcorn like this is the greatest show on earth. Obviously he sticks his tongue out at him. Izuku then gasps in fake shock but accidentally starts choking on some popcorn which makes him laugh. Aizawa goes to help him and puts his own laptop down. So in revenge for the hero’s nosiness he peeks a glance at the screen and sees an article about ‘Managing Teenage Hormones and Moodswings’

Its mid-March when something happens that changes everything for Haruto. Aizawa is out patrolling and he wakes in the night, sweaty and panicked as sometimes is the case when his past haunts him. He definitely prefers the dreams about the black haired boy even if the clean up every couple of weeks is embarrassing. Anyway, he decided to get up and go to the toilet, it will clear his head so when he does go back to sleep, he can be free of terrors.

After he finishes up, he walks out just in time to hear the front door open. 

‘Must be Zawa’

He considers going straight back to bed but his paranoia gets the better of him so he listens to make sure its just the hero coming in to go shower and crawl into bed like he usually does. Instead he hears shuttered breathing and a small groan just before the door closes again. He frowns and his curiosity gets the better of him so he tip toes down the stairs through the living room and rounds the bannister to look down at the genkan.

“Its… its just… me…” the hero sounds pained but Haruto can’t make anything out in the darkness “G-go back to bed… Haruto”

Although his teenage defiance far from its peak yet, he ignores the man and starts quickly trotting down the stairs “What happened? You’re injured right? I can help, I’ve learned some stuff from Recovery Girl remember”

As he gets to Aizawa he can see the man’s hair is sticking to his face with sweat, he looks pale and annoyed “I’m fine” he grits out “Just go back to bed”

Haruto scoffs and stomps to Aizawa’s bedroom. Its a place neither of the boys go, not strictly off limits but there’s no reason to be in there, especially when the hero ends up sleeping on the couch half the time. Plus its a whole floor down and teens can be lazy.

“Haruto…”

“Stop it, come on old man” he says with a smirk, opening the door, flipping on lights as he goes, heading into the small ensuite so he can grab a first aid kit.

“Its probably in the cupboard under the sink, like the one in the toilet, the one in the kitchen and the one in the upstairs bathroom” he mumbles to himself, a habit he’s probably picked up from his brother. He hears the hero stumble into the bedroom behind him as he finds the first aid kit so he gets up and turns around.

‘Blood’

That’s what he notices despite Aizawa’s almost completely black hero costume. His hands are drenched in a deep shocking red, pressed against his side, the rich colour up the sides of his neck, on his capture weapon. The intense panic that surges through him is so overwhelming that he feels like he might faint. He can’t lose him. He just got his family, his whole family, his brother… his dad…

He surges forward to stabilise the hero who is heavily leaning against the door frame, coating it in dark syrupy blood

“Fucking hell, why didn’t you go to the hospital” he snaps as he guides the hero to sit on a towel on the tiled floor of the ensuite.

“L… language”

He scowls at the man and turns to start filling the sink with hot water, then goes to slowly help the man out of his costume. First the scarf, then unbuttoning the top to pull down. He grabs a fresh towel from the cupboard before they start to peel the top away from the large slice that goes from just above Aizawa’s belly button, up to the middle of his ribs on the side. Once its exposed he whispers more expletives and presses the towel against the wound, hoping to slow the sluggish outpour of blood.

He doesn’t even realise the tears streaming down his cheeks until the man talks again “Hey… its ok… I’m sorry. I’m going to be ok… I just wanted… I just wanted to get home to my boys” Aizawa pants softly

Haruto sniffs loudly, nodding and lays the man back, grabbing supplies to check how bad it is. He’s got a little device that looks like an epi-pen, it delivers anaesthetic to numb the area and a clotting agent to stem the blood flow, Recovery Girl showed him how to use it along with assessing wounds. The cut looks deep, the tissue looks ragged and there’s a little bit of fat extruding out but it hasn’t gone into any organs, its just so damn long, probably needing a good forty or more stitches, that’s why its bleeding so much. Knowing its not life threatening he grabs the man’s phone and calls the medical heroine for advice.

“Aizawa, what is it that warrants a call at 3:17am” the old lady grumbles

“I-its Haruto. He- He’s got a big cut that goes from just above his belly up to the side of the ribs, maybe around 20cm long” he takes a panicked breath “g-going deep enough to have nicked the bone b-but I don’t think there is any organ damage”

“Oh dear boy, that silly man” she sighs down the phone

“I’ve administered the fibrinogen lidocaine combination injection, three times on each side of the wound”

“That’s excellent Haruto, has the bleeding slowed down?”

He peeled back the towel “A little”

“Alright, keep the pressure on, I’ll be there in about 10 minutes”

“Thank you” he bites back a whimper.

“None of that, you did excellently”

When he hangs up the phone and looks down at the man, he’s got the most god awful guilty expression on his face and the last of his walls crumble into dust. Careful not to jostle him, he leans over and buries his face into Aizawa’s neck and bursts into tears, shaking with sobs.

“I’m sorry for scaring you” Aizawa whispers as he threads his fingers into Haruto’s spiky locks

“You’re an idiot” the teen sobbed  “but I love you and I can’t lose you dad”

“I’m not going anywhere, I promise son.”

Chapter Text

Two days after the injury, Aizawa sat them both on the couch. Izuku noticed Haruto had been particularly clingy with the man, perhaps he didn’t like the idea that he could be injured like that and that neither of them would know about it. He’s not sure either way, but he’s now not the only one calling him dad. It gives him a nice feeling inside, they’re a real family… kind of anyway…

“Boys, can we have a quick chat?…” the hero eyed the tv screen with mild confusion “Is that… a building made of TNT… filled with fish?”

Izuku stilled, looking out of the corner of his eye to quit out of Minecraft quietly.

Aizawa shook his head “Right… errr… I wanted to tell you both how proud I am of you and how glad I am that you both came into my life.” He took a deep breath before continuing “I didn’t realise the hole that was gaping through my soul until you both filled it in perfectly.”

The two boys sat in stunned silence

“I’ve thought of you both as my sons for quite some time now and well… its official now.” He handed them both a certificate each.

An adoption certificate.

Shouta Aizawa is his dad, his real, official, permanent dad. They’re a real family- he leans over to double check that Haruto’s says the same thing. ‘It does!’

“This is” Tears flood out of his eyes like crazy, one might think he could flood the room at this rate “This is amazing! Thank you so much dad.”

“Its my pleasure son.”

The boys dive out of their seats into the man’s arms.

“Today is the best day ever” Izuku whispered.

2 weeks later

“Today is the worst day ever” Izuku whined as he finished putting his shoes on to walk to school. Finally the day arrived for him and Haruto to start school. He’s terrified but things will go different this time right? He’s got a quirk now and nobody knows him or knows that he didn’t have one until he was eight. And they don’t know both his birth parents are dead. But that doesn’t matter, Shouta Aizawa is his dad, its been official for 2 weeks so he holds onto that. His dad is a hero. He can do this. 

Aizawa had driven him past the day before and drawn him a little map so he could easily walk. The first half of the journey was the same as Haruto anyway, so the pair walked out and waved at their dad who was heading to the police station soon for a meeting.

“I’m really not looking forward to this” Izuku mumbled as they walked.

“Hey, don’t be worried, I’ll bet the coolest kid ever is going to be so excited to be your friend but don’t forget” his brother puts a hand on his shoulder “Just because a popular kid says or does something, don’t compromise your beliefs. Just because they’re well liked or admired, like if they’ve got a flashy quirk, don’t let them be mean to you”

Izuku nodded, determination flashing in his eyes “I’m not going to get pushed around this time a-and I’ll stick up for people too!”

The two parted ways, splitting off to go to their respective schools. Izuku found his anxiety flying through the roof with every step he took away from his brother. This was the first time he was going to be with people his own age after around eighteen months and the first time without any of his family in six. He was probably white as a sheet with how nauseous he felt as he stepped through the front doors, passing tens of children, all staring at “the new kid”. 

Thankfully finding the reception desk was easy enough and by some grace, the lady there was kind. Izuku felt calmer as she spoke and wondered if it was some kind of quirk, although he bit his lip hard to make sure he didn’t mutter about it. 

The blonde lady took him to his locker then showed him the canteen, toilets and then finally walked him to his class, arriving at the door just as the bell went.

“Miss Iyashi, I have Izuku Aizawa here for his first day, Aizawa this is Miss Koko Iyashi” the blonde gave him a little nudge forward so he was now standing next to the teachers desk at the front, then bowed politely and left.

The teacher looked a little suspicious, disgruntled at the very least, she was thin to the point of being bony, with dark hair pulled up tight, making her face seem more angular. After a deep sigh, she stood up and turned to look at the class “Alright kids, this is Izuku Aizawa, you have three questions, raise your hands.”

Izuku felt horrified, almost everyone instantly thrust their hands up in desperation like he was some show and tell thing that people could quiz, prod and poke.

“Miko” she said pointing to a brunette in the front row.

“Why’d you move schools?”

The class broke out in whispers before stopping to hear him answer “My dad g-got us a bigger apartment, the location w-was good for this school and his work” he breathed out in relief that he only stuttered two words as he spoke. 

“Kasui” she pointed to a boy with very short, dark red hair and a sneer on his face. Izuku could tell this kid was trouble, probably another Bakugo… ‘awesome’

“What’s your quirk?”

‘Of course that’s what he asks’

“Its called Alis Ignis, I can turn into a butterfly made from fire”

A few kids, mostly girls commented how pretty it sounded but that wasn’t all he could pick up from the muttering that erupted through the class, of course Kasui was the first to bark out a response “A fire butterfly! Oh my god that’s the lamest thing I’ve ever heard” the boy laughed (along with a few others).

“Better than being a glorified hedgehog” 

Izuku snapped up and saw everyone turning around to look at a boy at the back of the class. He had lilac hair that was wild and floaty, sort of like how his dad’s would look if he was using his quirk and it was only a few inches long instead of past his shoulder. To be honest, he even had matching eyebags… it was comforting.

“Shinsou! Detention at recess for disrupting the class and insulting Kasui.” the teacher snapped

Izuku frowned and looked at the teacher, remembering Haruto’s words from literally ten minutes earlier “D-didn’t that kid insult me first though Miss? Does he get detention too?” 

He saw the demeanour of Ms Iyashi change in an instant, rage flickering into her steel grey eyes. Calmly she brushed her fingertips against her hair, pushing the navy blue flyaways back into the bun “Aizawa” she said plastering a sickly sweet smile on her face “You’d do well to respect your teacher, considering you’ve barely been in class a couple of minutes, you should watch your tone lest you end up joining Hitoshi in detention.”

‘Great, teacher is a jerk just like Alderra’ he kept his mouth shut despite the urge to mutter that she had a face like a dog chewing something disgusting.

“Last question, Hina”

“Do you have any pets?” The class collectively groaned at the non-gossipy question, slumping onto their desks in disinterest.

“Yeah a black cat named Tuna” Izuku smiled brightly, everyone loves cats right?

“HA! God even your cat’s name is stupid” Kasui, again with the prodding insults.

“W-well my dad found him as a kitten, he’d cut his paw eating a half opened can of-“

The same kid interrupted “Wow so your dad’s a dumb loser too!”

Finally the teacher stepped in “That’s enough now Kas-“

Izuku was suffocating in pure fury, his dad was almost his entire world, he saved him, he was kind, smart, loving, funny and gave Izuku everything he ever needed and more “You don’t say a damn thing about my dad!” He growled out angrily, feeling hot like his quirk was on the verge of flicking into life. But he snapped out of it when Ms Iyashi slapped her ruler onto the desk loudly

“Izuku Aizawa!” She barked “Well, what a great start to the day, you can join Shinsou in detention at recess and let me tell you, keep this up and that father of yours will be here for a meeting”

Izuku scowled but didn’t respond ‘Just try it lady, you’ll be out of a job faster than you can sneeze’

“You’re sat in front of Shinsou, go.”

So he walked quickly to the second row to the back, sitting in front of the boy who he now hoped to make friends with. After roll call, he leant back in his chair and turned his head a little to whisper to him “Hey thanks for sticking up for me against the meanie”

“No problem”

The first part of the morning went fairly smoothly and passed in the blink of an eye. When recess came around he stayed in his seat as everyone else left the room, Kasui obviously smirking evilly back at him.

“Ignore him, everyone praises him for his quirk, thinking he’s going to make an awesome hero or whatever just because his spikes are indestructible.”

Izuku turns around to face the voice that spoke quietly from behind him “What’s his quirk?”

Shinsou is sat with his face flopped against his palm, elbow on the table, the picture of utter boredom “Spiky asshole”

Izuku’s cheeks puffed out as he pursed his lips to keep from bursting out laughing “That’s unfortunate”

The purple haired boy sat upright, a slow smile spreading across his face, joining Izuku when he finally starts snickering.

The teacher of course, slapped that damn ruler against the desk “You’re not here to have fun Aizawa, Shinsou! I want lines written in your workbook - ‘I will not disrespect the teacher, I will learn to behave’”

Izuku doesn’t stop the eyeroll at how bullshit that is and simply turns to do his work, muttering almost silently about how the teacher is a dumb butt face. After about five minutes Shinsou leans forward, kicking the bottom of Izuku’s chair so he leans back to listen. 

“Kasui can get razor sharp, spikes covering his whole body, varying in length from a centimetre to about 20cm”

Looking up at Miss Iyashi, he notes that the teacher is intensely absorbed in marking school work, blissfully ignoring the two so he slowly and quietly pivots on his seat to look at the boy behind him “So he’s like a fugu?”

Shinsou’s eyes went wide, his smile growing bigger “I like you Aizawa, you’re fun.”

‘Don’t cry don’t cry’

“C-can we be friends?” He whispers, trying not to let a whimper creep into his voice

The boy leans back a little, narrowing his eyes just a touch then sharply nods “Sure”

“Thanks Shinsou! Can I sit w-with you at lunch?”

“Yep” he said with a popped ‘p’

When the bell rolled for lunch a couple of hours later, he quickly shoved his things into his bag, only slightly worried that his new friend would ditch him ‘no, it’s not going to be like that this time’ he thought as he bit his lip and stood up.

Of course, he needn’t have worried, when he turned, Shinsou had his bag on his back, hands on his straps, waiting patiently for Izuku “Come on Broccoli, lets go”

Izuku squeaked walking quickly to keep up with the slightly taller boy “B-b-broccoli!”

After getting food, the pair sat at a table in the far corner of the room. 

“Sooo you got pretty defensive about your dad” the boy took a mouthful of rice then mumbled around it “what’s he do for a living?” 

‘Shit! I can’t tell him he’s an underground hero, it’s meant to be a secret right?’

“Uh high school teacher” ‘quick change subjects’ “Are all the teachers like that Miss Iyashi? Favouring jerks with fancy quirks?”

Shinsou sighed “Not all of them, she’s probably the worst to be honest. Kasui is her cousin’s son or whatever so he can do no wrong pretty much.” 

At that moment a group of slightly older kids sat at the next table over, whispering and staring. He automatically pulled in on himself, feeling like he was back at Aldera all over again until someone whispered extremely loud and obnoxiously “Hey new kid, don’t sit with the villain”

Izuku frowned, confusion reigning free on his face, when he turned back and looked at his table mate the boy had his jaw clenched, staring angrily at his food.

‘I’m not going to get pushed around this time and I’ll stick up for people too’ that’s what he’d said to Haruto

So with a look of determination and a single clenched fist he glared at the table of offensive kids, snapping “He’s not a villain. He’s my friend!” And with a little huff he turned back to a shocked Shinsou, the boy quickly looked back down at his lunch, the tiniest shy smile on his lips.

Before he could comment any further a tray slammed down onto the table, a girl with deep ginger coloured hair sitting with a big smile, announcing “Better late than never!”

Shinsou smirked “This is Mei Inomaki, her quirk is that her voice gives people seizures unless she speaks in proverbs and idioms… its weird but you get used to it. We’re part of an unpopular quirk gang.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Izuku Aizawa” he said brightly ‘What’s Shinsou’s quirk… I don’t want to upset him though’

“Birds of a feather flock together” she said with a shrug, tucking into a little bowl of fruit and jelly, ignoring the ramen in favour of dessert.

Lunch was pretty nice, the two kids didn’t talk very much and Izuku was still feeling too shy to go all out, too frightened to scare them off. Still, he told them about having an older brother and promised to show Shinsou pictures of Tuna at the end of the day because apparently the boy loved cats, so once that revelation came about, Izuku happily chatted away about all of the ‘tests for science’ that they’d done with the poor cat.

“So in conclusion, he doesn’t like printers, cucumbers, orange peel or my dad’s feet. But he loves sleeping on my brother, likes boxes, scritches behind his earsies and on his tummy, Tuna for breakfast even though it sounds a bit canib-can-c-cannibalistic, oh and he likes to attack greebles”

The girl quickly pulled out a small whiteboard from her pocket, writing “Whats a greeble?”

Shinsou quickly stepped in to answer “Oh its like ghosts or specific monsters that only cats can see and they cause temporary insanity”

“Sometimes they’ll just be a random part of the couch he stares at all creepy and then he'll will do an aggressive lick and run away really fast” Izuku said with a soft smile.

Inomaki reached forward to grab both of the boys hands softly then push them closer and point “Two peas in a pod”

Shinsou laughed (while Izuku obviously tried hard not to blush), replying “Ah not without our special friend Princess Inomaki” 

“Fine words doth butter no parsnips” 

Izuku laughed awkwardly, he had no idea what she meant until the other boy translated it to saying she meant flattery will get you nowhere.

Before they could continue, the bell rang for the end of lunch, each of them putting away their trays and heading back to class. As the girl left them she called out “Time flies when you’re having fun” over her shoulder, smiling broadly.

The rest of the day went without any dramas. He had quickly learned to just keep his head down and avoid the spiky boy. When 3:15pm rolled around he fought hard against the urge to pack up his stuff and run out as fast as possible like he did in the past. No he wouldn’t because he wanted to talk to Shinsou more. The teacher had kept a close eye on them so they couldn’t chatter and it irritated him but now school was finished, he just had to-

“You walking home?” The boy beat him to the punch.

He turned, putting his bag on his back and smiled “Yep, I’ll be meeting my brother at the junction. I live about 20 minutes away”

“Cool same. Ready to go?”

‘Yesyesyesyesyes’

Izuku nodded and headed out, ignoring the glares from Kasui and his little gang.

Once they were out of the school gate he asked where the girl from lunch was but was told she gets picked up by her dad, then together they go pick up her older brother who’s at high school. 

‘Nows the chance because its just the two of us… I can ask about his quirk’

“So I know the kids were being mean and all that but… can I ask what your quirk is?” 

He saw the boy change from a casual walk to a tight, tense one. He felt bad for asking but if he wanted to be friends, he wanted to help. No quirk is a bad quirk! Its what you do with it that matters, look at Endeavor with his fancy flashy fire quirk but he’s still just a big dumb butt head that abuses his children! And then there was Kacchan, everyone praised him for his quirk but if he decided to go blowing up buildings and attacking people his quirk would be perfect for that-

“You know you mumble quite a lot, I’m starting to think you don’t even know when you’re doing it” 

He felt the colour draining out of his face, the skin on his palms slicking up and going cold. This is where he calls him creepy, tells him to get lost. Slowly he turned his head to look at the boy who to his surprise had the hint of a smile “I-I-I ummm”

“My quirk is called Brainwashing, when someone responds to something I say, I can make them do things…” he rubbed the back of his neck looking away “that’s why people call me a villain.”

A million possibilities floated around in his head, its incredible… as he refocuses his vision, willing the stars away he sees Shinsou glaring with an off mix of anger, distrust and panic.

“Your quirk sounds amazing Shinsou! The possibilities for heroics are endless! I mean, you don’t have to go into heroics, you could work with the police in interrogations, or help get information out of children who can’t communicate well, you could work in therapy like helping people with crippling anx-ang- fears or people with addictions, you could work at a hospital to help people before surgery” Izuku’s eyes glint in the afternoon sun and he begins to rub the space between his chin and bottom lip as possibilities flood his mind “have you ever tried to brainwash people into having abilities like boom now you can draw anime characters when before they had no talent, or even teach someone something while brainwashed so that a word triggers a sudden ability to speak French- ohhh oh shoot sorry… umm I- I mean quirks- I think quirks, some quirks are really interesting and and- well some quirks are so one di-dime-di uhhh stupid, uh some quirks are really simple, like wow you can make spikes on your skin, can’t wait to see you in the newspaper celebrating your successful career as chief balloon popper… I’m going to stop talking now” he bit his lip almost hard enough to draw blood, glaring at the floor as he walked. Just a few more minutes and he’d see Haruto and he could run home with him and curl up with cardboard Mic and cry.

“Chief balloon popper…”

Izuku looked up hesitantly.

“There was a LOT to unpack there and I’ll get back to how nice all that was but… chief balloon popper. Do you think he ever got balloons at his birthday parties?” Shinsou was grinning now and he felt all his pain and fear slip away, like sand through his fingers.

“He’s probably scared of them.” Izuku shrugged trying to will away the panicked tension that had built in his shoulders.

After a minute of quiet Shinsou spoke again “So you… don’t think I’m a villain?”

“Not at all, I think your quirk is incredible. Oh my god can you do it to me? The brainwashing? No hang on, that’s my brother over there, if he see’s me dancing like a drunk monkey or something he’ll cremate you”

Shinsou snorted a laugh which made him smile, he’s got a friend! This is the best day ever!

Chapter Text

When he arrived at the junction he casually leant against a lamp post and closed his eyes, sighing as the sun warmed his face. Today had gone pretty good but he was trying to push that to the back of his mind, Izuku would be here soon and he needed to be ready for any possibility. ‘What if he didn’t make any friends? What if he stuttered really badly and people made fun of him or shit what if someone used to go to his old school and recognised-‘

He stopped his spiralling panic when he saw Izuku down the street heading his way, a boy with floaty purple hair by his side and importantly, a smile on his face. 

“Haruto!!!” The green haired boy shouted and waved like a dork. 

It made his face light up in amusement, when the two boys arrived he casually answered (because he wasn’t going to yell out ‘Hi' like a geek) “Hey Zu” then he set a suspicious gaze on the other boy.

“This in Hitoshi Shinsou, he’s my friend!!” Izuku spilled with excitement and a tiny blush on his cheeks “Shinsou this is my brother Haruto” 

The two newly introduced boys gave each other a small nod, neither seemed to be the type to excitedly start chatting a bunch.

“So how was your first day? Any assholes give you trouble?” So what if a little anger slipped into his voice, he’s protective, so what.

“Ah well… I got detention-“

“WHAT?!” He went and stopped directly in Izuku’s path “Explain, teacher being a dick or another student?”

Izuku scuffed his shoes, looking down at the floor as he mumbled “Both”

“Shinsou, I can tell he’s going to be cagey about this, can you tell me what happened?”

As the trio resumed walking, Shinsou filled him in, not stopping when Izuku stuttered and muttered incoherently.

“So you going to tell dad?”

Izuku whined but didn’t say anything making him sigh long and hard so he turned again getting in his face, softly placing both hands on his shoulders.

“Just promise me you’ll talk to him if it gets worse or anything bad happens, with the kid or the teacher”

“Ok Haruto… hey you haven’t told me about your day!!”

‘My day…’

After leaving Izuku at the junction, he picked up his pace a little, wanting to get to school as quick as possible so he could get shown around without attracting too much attention.

Luck, it seemed, was on his side as he was shown around, casually slipping a piece of paper to the teacher has he arrived and gliding quickly to his seat with a few minutes to spare before the bell.

Of course luck wasn’t so much on his side (‘or maybe it still was’) when that same spiky black haired teen he’d seen twice in the last few months (and many times in his dreams) walked in with a dull look on his face. He swallowed thickly but couldn’t keep his eyes off the boy as he walked his way, stopping at the seat directly in front of him.

‘Shitshitshit’

“I’m pretty sure pictures last longer” the boy said with a hint of a glare.

He grunted and looked down at his bag “Whatever” It was an effort to heavily paste nonchalance onto his whole visage but he felt pretty good grabbing his stuff out of his bag. He hadn’t made a fool out of himself yet.

“Aizawa, come to the front, introduce yourself to the class” The teacher asked quietly. 

‘Why does the world hate me’

The teacher had short blonde hair, parted down the centre, wore thick rimmed black glasses, a shirt and tie with a brown cardigan over the top… thankfully he had a non-threatening attitude. 

With a long sigh he got up and walked to the front “And exactly what do you want me to say other than my name?” He said, looking at the teacher with an air of intimidation. It almost made him laugh when the teacher swallowed and didn’t answer but another student promptly pushed her chair back and stood.

“You should state your name, birthday month, quirk, hobbies and ambitions!” She barked robotically. He turned his slight glare onto her, taking note of her crisp uniform, complete with professional looking ironed in creases.

“Haruto Aizawa, February, I like playing my xbox and watching anime. My quirk and ambitions are none of your business” he drawled. 

When he started walking back, a kid in the second row stuck his leg out stopping him in his path, earning a look that could probably turn anyone into stone. The boy didn’t seem intimidated, smirking slightly “Why aren’t you saying your quirk?”

“Like I said, it's none of your business, it shouldn’t have any impact on your impression of me as a person, its just a tool at my disposal” he channeled his dad’s energy as best he could but his hands felt a little hot and clammy.

“That’s an excellent attitude to have Aizawa” the teacher praised from behind him. From what Izuku had experienced in school before, he was worried a little that his teacher would be the same kind of asshole but this was a pleasant surprise. So he let out a little smirk of his own as the boy slowly retracted his leg so he could move back to his seat. But just as he passed the boy, a harsh whisper broke out “Probably something to do with those gross ass scars”

He suppressed a flinch, of course someone would comment, he was expecting it. Doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt a little though. Thankfully the teacher heard and promptly gave the kid detention at both recess and lunch.

When he arrived back at his seat he slumped down, wishing that the excitement was through for the day… but of course it wasn’t… recess was quiet, the lessons before lunch were quiet, even at lunch he simply grabbed his tray of food and went to sit by himself, enjoying the isolation. Then after lunch was sport and physical education… that’s when things went a little down hill. 

The sports teacher came steaming into class ranting about switching today’s theoretical  based lesson for a physical one. Haruto’s locker had everything he needed and he changed quickly, ignoring the looks he got when his scarred body came out in the locker room.

“Right! I want to see how much your bodies have turned to mush over the break!!” The drill sergeant - no, teacher shouted “Today we’re doing fitness tests and quirk displays, we have a quirk councillor on site so let’s get some exciting shows going today!”

‘Fan-fucking-tastic’

The guy started waving his arm like a windmill “lets goooooo, line up for the beep test”

Several class members groaned, walking slowly to line up along one side of the gym.

“Now for those who haven’t been here before and maybe haven’t done this at their school, you get to the other side of the gym by the beep… the beeps get closer together as time goes on! Run until you collapse or want to die” the man shouted, firmly gripping his clip board and stop watch.

Again there were several disgruntled murmurs around the room, he was positive he heard someone say they wanted to die already and at that moment he was thankful for the months of hell training his dad had put him through.

Eventually he decided to give up when there were only two other students left, he probably could have gone on but he didn’t want to be the centre of attention. It seemed the teacher knew this as well, as he suspiciously stared at the teen when he went to sit down.

Five minutes later, the last two students sat puffing and panting “Good work you two, hanging in there like that” the teacher called out as he marked the details on his paperwork “Pushing yourself until you truely can’t go on anymore is the mark of true grit and strength” he finished with a growl as he began to pace back and forward in front of the students sat on the bench at the side of the room. “Next up! One by one come up and show me your quirk, then show me you using that in a stttrrrrrroooooong way and I want to see marked improvements since last year! No more slacking!”

“Why does he growl? Fucking lunatic” Haruto mumbled quietly hearing someone nearby snicker.

“Akio! You’re up! We’ll save the new guy for last!”

Haruto sat as the students went up one by one… sharp pointed granite tipped elbows, Velcro fingertips, fabric hardening, metal temperature control… his brother would be having a field day! He was broke out of daydreaming when that boy went up… ‘the one from the pet shop… I wonder what his quirk is’

He had a look of absolute apathy, coming to a stop in front of the teacher “You going to step back or you want me to demonstrate on you?”

“Ah what new ones do you have this time, not the wolves we’ve seen them before” the teacher says with pep in his step as he trots to the side of the room.

Before Haruto could even question what he meant by ‘not the wolves’ an owl flew out from inside the teen’s shadow, buzzing with forked yellow electricity. Its actually incredibly large he notes, probably the size of a two seater couch!

“Nice! The electricity is an interesting touch!! Ok ok… Honda you’re next”

The black haired teen looked over, seeing the seat he’d previously sat in now occupied and that’s when Haruto looks at the empty bench space next to him ‘oh shit’. When he looked back up, the boy is making his way to that spot and sitting quietly.

“Your quirk is pretty damn good, I’m guessing you’re going into limelight heroics?” Haruto queried softly after a few minutes, ignoring the continued display in front of him.

The other boy looked directly at him making his breath stop in his tightened throat. He wasn’t quite scowling but there was some semblance of assholery in his expression “I have no desire to pander to the public and be some fucking sports mascot.”

Haruto internally swooned but outwardly he simply scoffed leading the other boy to continue.

“So what’s your quirk?”

In response he let forth a small burst of fire from his outheld palm, smirking slightly at the black haired teen. The boy casually rolling his eyes “I asked what it was, didn’t ask for a demonstration. You like showing off? I’m guessing you’re going for limelight heroics?” He mimicked mockingly.

Haruto felt disgusted as imagery of his father towering over the line up of the top ten heroes from his position at number two flooded into his mind “Fuck that. I want to help people, not enter a popularity contest.” He looked back to the student demonstrating his drawing quirk with chalk on the floor. After a minute or two, he felt a little nudge against his arm and looked to his side. But before he could respond the teacher called out “Haruto Aizawa” he snapped his gaze over at the man standing in the middle of the room “come on up, you’re quirk is listed as blue flame, show us what you’ve got”

He pushed himself up and walked over to the man and held his palm out like he was pointing a weapon “If you want to be cremated then sure…” the man flinched “Otherwise I’d suggest going to stand with the students”

Then he watched the man practically skip over to the benches. He took a deep breath, part of him really hated this, it was like showing what the best he could be for Endeavor all over again but part of him wanted to assert his place in class as someone not to mess with. He had no intention of abusing that but if idiots like the kid from the morning wanted to try and pick on him, this would surely change their mind. And of course, maybe there was a tiny teensy part of him that wanted to show off to the spiky haired teen… ‘fuck it’

He let forth a gigantic flurry of intensely hot blue flame that instantly made the far wall of gym start smoking and the students (and teacher) gasp out and start chatting (or yelling in the case of the teacher)

“Woah woah lets- lets not burn down the whole building!!” The man almost screamed.

He stopped with a slight smirk.

“I’ll bet the hero commission are going to-“

“Well they can fuck off, I want nothing to do with them” he cut in.

“AIZAWA!” The teacher snapped “Firstly, cut that language or you’ll be in detention, secondly, don’t cut your teacher off - again I’ll give you detention, thirdly, I don’t know what has given you that attitude but perhaps we should have a chat with your parents if it continues”

He walked over to the benches, pursing his lip to stop himself retaliating. He wanted to say ‘be my guest’ so so badly, he could call his dad for all he cared. It’s not like Aizawa would ground him or anything, this whole quirk testing crap is probably illegal anyway. 

As he sat down next to the spikey haired teen, the boy held out his hand, for the first time without that usual passive expression “Megumi Fushiguro”

‘Ffffffffff’

He gave a tiny smirk and shook his hand.

After a brief talk from the teacher, the class filed back into the changing rooms to finish up for the day. He was glad that shit show was over, he just wanted to get dressed and get the hell out, thoughts of his brother making him chew the inside of his cheek in worry. 

When he finished packing up he turned around and saw Fushiguro hovering near the door “What’s up?” He said with a friendlier voice, hoping not to piss off the perpetually moody boy.

“Nothing, just wanted to tell you not to get on that teachers bad side. He’s a bit of a dick but he’s got friends in high places” Fushiguro said as he kicked off the wall to walk by Haruto’s side

‘I’ve got family in high places pal, I’m not worried’

“Thanks for the warning, you find that out the hard way?”

“You could say that… I’m quite fond of bullying bullies and the bullies tend to be… well, you know”

Haruto carried on walking by his side, the exit fast approaching, so he took a deep breath, thinking about Izuku’s friendly energy “Where’d you go at lunch? I didn’t see you in the canteen.”

“Ah I go up to the roof, there’s a few of us who aren’t interested in the whole prom king and queen style quirk popularity contest… actually, you’re probably going to get swarmed after that display and if you’re serious that you don’t want to get dragged into it then you should come hang out with us.”

‘Hjkfhjhshjkd’ 

“Thanks… you might have to show me where it is though” he said as he shoves his hands into his pockets.

“Yeah no worries… see you tomorrow Aizawa” Fushiguro says as he turns towards the car park where a black sedan is waiting.

“See ya”

“Haruto? Your day? W-was it ok? They weren’t mean to you were they” Izuku stuttered with wild eyes as he grasped his sleeve.

“Ah sorry, was just thinking about it. Yeah my day was fine, there’s a guy there who I’ve bumped into before at the pet shop. He can make really big animals come out of his shadow.”

Izuku obviously gasped so he cut him off before he even started “I don’t know anymore than that really, apparently he can make wolves by I only saw a massive owl that sparked with electricity” again Izuku looked ready to burst “The gym teacher made us all demonstrate our quirks to see how people had improved over the gap between last school year and this one.”

“That sounds illegal” Izuku mumbled with a frown.

“There was a kid who could create mirrors and glass out of thin air, seemed to have a really good understanding of geometry, bet you’d be able to find some great ways to use that quirk” he laughed

Izuku skipped a couple of steps ahead and turned theatrically, mouth agape, ready to spew out a thousand theories but Shinsou stopped him “I’m down here… seems like a good point to escape” he laughed “See you tomorrow Aizawa!”

“Ah yeah bye Shinsou!!” Izuku waved frantically, Haruto giving a small nod.

“Hey look, he only lives two streets over from ours, you could probably hang out after school or something… when dad isn’t trying to kill us with training.”

“Yeah!! Oh so did you make any new friends today?”

“I think so” he said with a small smile.

Chapter Text

Aizawa walks through the front door, tired from a day of dealing with a new hell class and hankering for a coffee. The twenty teens were ok, he only expelled three of them so it was pretty good compared with the previous year where he expelled half the class. 

He’d deserted slightly early because he wanted to be home when the boys got in from school, so he quickly stripped out of his hero costume, screaming blue murder when he entered the ensuite and found cardboard Present Mic in the shower - because when the hell had the little shits managed to get that in there before leaving for school?! Once he removed the offending item, he had a shower to rid himself of kid germs and slipped into some comfortable joggers and a loose t-shirt. It was when the freshly made coffee touched his lips that he heard voices outside, increasing in volume as they walked up to the front door.

“-so I’m going to do some research and read as many prof-prob- haaaaaaaahhhhghhhhh I’m tired and my stooooopid mouth isn’t working - proberves?” Izuku huffed in frustration as he opened the door.

Haruto kicked off his shoes, probably leaving a scuff mark on the wall “Proverbs”

“Yeah so then when she says some of them, I’ll know what she means. I wonder if she has a book of them? Daaaaad??” Izuku called up the stairs as he slid his slippers on.

“I’m up here” he called as he put the full cup on the coffee table and laid back on the recliner, closing his eyes, happy that neither sounded upset.

The two boys appeared at the top of the stairs, both quickly moving into the living room and flopping down on the couch, twinning in exhaustion.

He opened one eye “So one at a time, tell me about your day”

“I made two friends!!!” Izuku lunged forward, landing on his knees on the floor and pushing the bottom of the recliner in so Shouta was thrust into an upright position.

He narrowed his eyes in suspicion and pulled his phone out of his pocket “Uh-huh… what’s their names - full names, date of birth if you have it.”

“Dad no” Izuku chided as he shook his head and crossed his arms.

“Dad yes” he muttered making Haruto snort a tiny laugh, so he turned his attention onto the other boy “Do you know who they are? What’s the asking price?”

Haruto sat up with interest “Three more piercings” 

“Two”

Izuku turned in horror “Don’t sell me out!”

Haruto shoved the side of his brother’s head, sending him squealing and falling onto Tuna who jumped in the air, scrambling into the side of the coffee table and shaking Shouta’s coffee cup. 

All three tensed, watching the precious liquid spill over the sides onto the coaster. Izuku breathed out a sigh of relief until Haruto blurted out “He’s called Hitoshi Shinsou, lives two streets over, not sure his birthday. Didn’t get the girls name!”

“HARUTO! TRAITOR!” The boy screeched diving onto his brother, both putting each other in the complicated locks and holds Shouta had taught them over the months.

The hero tutted as he opened up a message window “That only gets you one piercing and not the tongue, the intel was poor.” 

“That’s not fair!” Haruto wheezed as his brother pushed on his windpipe with a shin “I ughghh compr-oww compromised my safety to-“ Haruto groaned as his brother pushed upward and basically butt dropped like Super Mario onto his belly.

“Haruto made a friend too!” Izuku yelped as he was tossed over the back of the couch, landing with a thud.

“Oh did he” Shouta grinned

Haruto stood bolt upright, panic in his eyes “He doesn’t know his name! And I’ll never tell!!”he shouted as he stomped off towards the stairs.

“Oh its a boy is it” Shouta’s smile got wider as he saw a slight blush on his cheek “That’s an interesting pink hue to your cheek there son”

“I hate everyone in this house!” the teen ranted as he stomped up the stairs.

Shouta chuckled evilly, payback for that damn cardboard cut out… plus he’d spent a lot of time with Nemuri today… perhaps that was a bad thing. He looked down at his phone…

Shouta: Hey Bang, you got any intel on one Hitoshi Shinsou? Lives nearby, goes to school with my youngest. Apparently they became friends today.

He wasn’t sure how long it would take for the old pro to get back to him, he was probably out with his ‘not-girlfriend’. So he pocketed his phone as Izuku came around the couch and sat with a very defined pout.

“So what’s your new friend like?”

Izuku crossed his arms in a grump “Dad… dad don’t get onto him, he’s my first real friend! I’ve not had a friend other than Haruto since Kacchan and well that… it…. Please don’t m-“

He pushed off the recliner and collapsed onto the couch, grabbing the young boy and pulling him into a cuddle “I’m only messing. All I did was ask Bang if he knows the kid… I promise. I’m just teasing…” he lifted his hands and gently pulled out the hair tie in Izuku’s locks, letting the messy green curls fall down to the boy’s jaw “You ok? Tell me about your friends” he asked gently, leaning forward to grab a hairbrush from the drawer in the coffee table.

Izuku sighed and plopped down on the floor in front of the couch, pulling a cushion from the recliner to shove under his butt. Shouta slowly began teasing the few knots out, tentatively running the brush through.

“Hitoshi stood up for me when a boy was said I had a lame quirk or whatever”

Shouta tensed but stayed quiet so the boy could continue.

“He was just being a typical dummy so Hitoshi said something back to him, we ended up talking and uhhh hanging o-out at recess-”

‘Hmmm something else happened’

“And he invited me to sit with him at lunch with another girl…” 

From what he could see, Izuku was now frowning “What’s wrong? Why the frown?”

“Th… ummm…. Some kids were calling him names because of his quirk-“ Izuku turned so rapidly that the hairbrush was yanked out of his hands “But his quirk is really good and he could be a really great hero!”

Shouta raised his hands in surrender, keeping quiet and motioning the boy to sit back down so he could retrieve the hairbrush and continue.

“I defended him anyway. I’ll be his hero like you’re mine.”

‘Ah damn… he’s so…’

“You’re a good kid Izuku, I’m proud of you”

Izuku reached up, grabbed hold of Shouta’s forearms and dragged him down into a hug “Thanks dad”

“So why were they being mean about his quirk?” He pressed gently, pulling back to continue brushing.

“Ummm its brainwashing… you answer him and he can take control… I didn’t nag him for details, he’s I don’t know… senta-s-sensitive about it? The kids were calling him a villain”

Shouta abruptly sat up straight, puffing his chest out a little “Should I go in and have a chat with th-“

“Nononononono” Izuku thrashed around “It’ll just make things worse, just… I’ll let you know if anything bad happens”

“Promise?”

He felt Izuku tense “sure”

“Izuku Aizawa”

“I-I will!! I swear on Tuna”

“Ok… go talk to your brother, let him know I’m just teasing and… well, try not give him too much hell for selling you out. I’m going to drink this coffee, read a couple of emails and then we’re going out for dinner.”

He watched Izuku happily get up and skip away before reaching forward and grabbing his coffee. 

‘They both made friends… that’s good. That’s… really good.’

Sitting back in the recliner, practically cuddling his coffee cup, he found his mind drifting to ideas for treating the kids. Perhaps he could take them out on the weekend after the first full week of school, a little celebration. He could take them somewhere fun, maybe ice skating or something like that, kids like that right? With a frown he grabbed his phone and opened the group chat, scrolling past the four days worth of mindless drivel.

Jock: The boys both made friends. No tears, no reports of attacks or stress after school. Izuku’s new friend has an interesting quirk and gets a bit of bullying but he said he’s going to let me know if it gets bad. So I want to take them to do something fun this weekend… any ideas?

Jock: why the hell is my name Jock?

Trusty: Shooooouuuuttttttaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Trusty: I’m so proud of my lil nephews!!

Trusty: Really? Lady and the Tramp? You need to start coming to movie nights again

Peg: Yessss I think more shopping? Izuku could pick some stuff from a hero store? More piercings for Haruto? And he’s 14, does he have any… y’know… material to review for his personal time ;)

Jock: !!!

Jock: NEMURI! He’s 14!  

Peg: Exactly, hormones will be ravaging through his body, ramping up to the exciting 15-16 out of control age range!

Jock: Stay back foul beast

Trusty: What about the arcade? They could both invite their friends! And then you can drop them off and we can go for a nice quiet drink.

Jock: So I don’t get to spend the time with them

Trusty: Its the incredible SULK!

Peg: Shouta darling, they’re going to be moving to that ‘my dad embarrasses me’ phase very soon. Don’t fight it - actually be cool and let them hang with friends and then you might postpone the ‘my dad embarrasses me’ phase

Jock: (＃￣ω￣)

Trusty: DID YOU JUST SEND A KAOMOJI!

Jock: Stop shouting Zashi.

Jock: Izuku uses them all the time and insisted I get them set up on my phone. They express what sometimes I cannot.

Peg: Oh this is golden.

Jock: Right, you’ve both outlived your usefulness. I’m logging off. Don’t nag me. See you at school.

He closed the app, quickly silencing the notifications as they started flooding in. Just as he chugged the rest of the coffee and sat up in the recliner, his phone went off again.

Bang: He’s a good kid, parents divorced when he was really young, so he hops between houses, both on the same street though. His mum is a paediatrician, his dad is an accountant, they both work a lot so the kid is often wandering around the neighbourhood. Not neglected or anything like that though, sometimes helps my friend Kaori around the garden. I’ve heard that folks don’t like his quirk but he’s not had any trouble from it that I know of. 

Shouta: Ok, thanks. Also, stop being a coward and ask Kaori to start dating you.

Bang: I’m older than you, show some respect you toddler.

Shouta: Sorry grandad

He quickly pocketed his phone with a smirk.

After going and slipping into slightly less comfortable clothing, he fed Tuna and slipped up to the boys floor. As he got to Haruto’s door he could hear the teen chatting about Izuku’s quirk. They were discussing what things they could be trying next when Haruto said “I think if you went and saw birds, like exciting ones at the zoo or something, it could spark that excitement you got from the butterflies. Just reading about them isn’t going to imprint into your subconscious.”

Shouta looked through the gap where the door was slightly ajar, pride bubbling up as it often did nowadays. Izuku who was laid on the bed, legs and feet up the wall, head dangling off the edge (‘why does he get into this position all the time?’) gasped “That. Is. A. Brilliant. IDEA!”

The kid flung himself backwards, landing somewhat gracefully and bellowed out at the top of his lungs “DAAAAAAAAAA-“

“What” he shoved the door open.

“Can we go to the zoo this weekend, Ha-“

“I heard” he cut in again “Yes. Maybe you guys could invite your friends. I could drop you both off and you could go… do friend things… I can wait in the cafe with Mic or someone”

Izuku zipped out of the room into his bedroom, babbling on and on about looking up the website so he could do research on how best to utilise his time. Haruto sat staring at the floor with slightly widened eyes… it made him a little suspicious but he didn’t mention it.

“Come on, let’s go out for dinner” he called over his shoulder has he started walking down the stairs.

The restaurant was kind of busy, so despite his grumbling, the trio were not able to secure a booth, instead having to sit on a round table fairly close to the door. It was annoying because people that came in to collect take away orders kind of just hovered a few feet behind him and it made him feel tense. Perks of patrolling and working in the shadows.

But at least the food was nice and Izuku was still living on the high of making a friend and thinking about quirk possibilities. The boy was listing off the bird species that were at the zoo when a breeze floated in behind him.

Great, another person to lurk behind him.

Haruto was busy scrolling through an article about mythical winged beasts, occasionally sprouting snippets of legends, making Izuku chime in with “ooooh” or “wow cooooool”. The shit hits the fan though when Haruto takes a sip of drink then looks up and over Shouta’s shoulder so see the person collecting the takeout order… then promptly snorts that drink out of his nose onto the table and has a coughing fit.

Izuku immediately shove napkins at the teen while he gets up and starts roughly slapping the kid on the back. 

“Aizawa… caught you at a bad time?”

Obviously Shouta looks up because its his name, but then its both of his son’s names too… given that the boy standing at the edge of their table seems to be around the same age as Haruto and the poor sod looks like he wants melt through the floor and die, all the while still trying to get the coughing fit under control - he comes to the conclusion that this is perhaps the new friend he made?

With another cough, the teen rasps out “Fushiguro…” he clears his throat “Dad, Zu… this is my classmate Megumi Fushiguro… ummm” he awkwardly gestures towards Shouta and his brother “This is my dad Shouta Aizawa and my little brother Izuku”

The boy has a surprising lack of emotion in his expression, either he’s trained well in masking his feelings or he’s just really that bored with existence.

“Didn’t know your dad was a Pro”

‘Honestly what is it with half the people in this goddamn area knowing who I am?!’

Shouta feels like throwing a tantrum. “Well I’m underground, its not meant to be well known. And for the safety of my children I generally insist that they keep that detail to themselves” he sits back down and looks over the other teen suspiciously “and they’re not lying when they say I’m a teacher.”

“Hmm… my dad’s a pro t-“ the black haired boy stops mid sentence to answer the phone, mumbling something then quickly hanging up “Gotta go… see you tomorrow, Aizawa… and other Aizawa’s”

Then with a wave the boy walks off. When he turns around he takes great notice of the way Haruto watches the boy, pink cheeks lingering long after the effects of snorting out water and sucking half of it back into his windpipe.

‘Interesting’

The next day he saunters into UA, sleeping bag on his shoulder, already looking forward to seeing how different the remaining students in his class act after yesterdays expulsion event. But as he pushes open the door to his class a message comes over the tannoy.

“Mr Aizawa, please come to the Principle’s office after roll call.”

‘Oh great… what’s this about’

And so he doesn’t get to enjoy the taste of fear in the class room, or listen into the quiet chattering while they think he’s asleep… no, instead he has to go and see the rat. It does peak his curiosity though, Nezu never calls him at this time of day, so he makes his way there, opening the door to the office without knocking because he knows the rat is watching anyway.

“Ah do come in Mr Aizawa” Nezu hops off his seat and makes his way around the desk to start making some tea.

When he turns around Shouta quickly puts up his hands to refuse the offer “I just want to go get my coffee and get on with the day to be honest. What’s going on?”

“Ah always to the point! Oh and I did notice your tickets to the zoo for this weekend with the boys, such a marvellous idea, perhaps we can test out some of Izuku’s theories on Sunday afternoon while the excursion is still fresh from the day before?”

He ground his teeth angrily. Nosy bloody rodent. Nezu chuckled, probably noticing his potent death aura.

“I just wanted to update you on the Todoroki investigation” the rat-dog walked back over and sat down at his desk again, gently blowing on the hot tea with a playful smile “I take it you still haven’t told Haruto about his mother’s condition and whereabouts?”

Shouta rolled his eyes “I told you, I’m not telling him until he’s settled in school and had a couple of sessions with hound dog. What else have you found out?”

“Ah well, Jerry Takahashi-“

“Did you pick Jerry because of Tom and Jerry” he butts in

“Yes. Anyway, my stint as a investigative journalist named Jerry Takahashi has been quite fruitful, I’d say it won’t be long before we have enough data to confront the hero and the HSPC with the findings and give them some options”

Aizawa really wants to laugh “You’re going to blackmail them into making him give up his family.”

“Oh not at all” Nezu says with a dangerous gleam in his eyes “I’m just going to provide them with a few options, some more savoury than others.” 

Chapter Text

The boys waved goodbye to Aizawa at the door, he’d offered to drive them since he didn’t have to head out in the opposite direction like the day before but Izuku wanted to walk in hopes of seeing Shinsou.

Problem was, he wanted to ask about the Saturday zoo trip while simultaneously not wanting to ask. The fear of rejection was running rampant through his little body making him jittery.

“Calm down would you? When we get to the top of his street, we can look down, wait a few minutes and then if he’s not appeared, we’ll just have to head off” Haruto huffed. He was being supportive while still being a teenager apparently.

“Yeah- no, I mean ah that’s not uhhhh” he clenched and unclenched his fists, taking a deep breath and blurting out “I’m scared to ask about the zoo.”

Haruto didn’t say anything for a minute, so he just stared ahead, turning at the top of the street. Izuku suppressed the urge to jump when he suddenly felt his brother’s hand on his shoulder, pulling him into a side hug “Me too buddy.”

Well, they’re survivors, they’re together as always.

When they arrived at the top of the his friend’s street, about a third of the way down, walking with his hands in his pockets and hunched shoulders, was Shinsou. He looked tired and grumpy. Izuku was panicking, ‘what if he doesn’t want to walk to school together, what if I’m alone all day, I can’t ask him about the Zoo, he probably thinks I’m just a dumb Dek-‘

“Aizawa’s. Thanks for waiting for me!” 

Izuku snapped out of his spiralling as the purple haired boy jogged over. ‘Say Hi, don’t be weird-‘ Haruto elbowed him not so gently in the ribs “HI SHI- ahem hi Shinsou” he coughed to cover his humiliation.

“Shinsou” Haruto nodded, 

‘He’s so cool, why can’t I be cool’ Izuku pouted as the three started walking. His phone buzzed in his pocket so he sneakily pulled it out, not wanting to be rude.

Haruto: Stop freaking out, ask about the zoo tomorrow or Thursday. Just focus on being friends today.

He nodded at the phone, slyly glancing at his brother who was staring out at the traffic. So with a roll of his shoulders, decided to relax and just talk.

“Hey do you know Bang? We’ve met him a couple of times!” He asked happily

Shinsou seemed off with the fairies so he jerked his neck when Izuku talked loudly “Oh!… uhhh yeah… uh lives nearby, he’s got a secret not so secret crush on a lady on your street Kaori.” 

Haruto chuckled, joining the conversation “Our dad knows him, I’ve always wondered if one day dad will take us to the gym to work out and he’ll just randomly be waiting to make me question my life choices and die from exhaustion”

“I always feel like I’m going to die from exhaustion” Shinsou mumbled.

“Oh? Is it a side effect of your quirk? Or your parent’s quirks? I had trouble sleeping but that was more about panicking about st- uhh oh hey do you look at many cat videos? I used to watch funny videos like that but then dad put a ban on phones after 8:30pm”

And just like that, Izuku was rambling, then before they knew it, they were at school.

“Today we have a visit from Koshi-san, he’s a manga artist!” The teacher clapped and rubbed her hands together in faux excitement “His quirk allows him to rub out pen and pencil from any substrate with the tips of his fingers! Very useful for his career. This is the start of weekly visits from people who can show us how to effectively use quirks.”

“Are we going to have villains visit too? Some people have quirks that would be effective for say, robbing a bank” Kasui smirked as a couple of boys near him snickered. 

Izuku stiffened and went to open his mouth to retort in Shinsou’s defence - because its clear that was who it was aimed at, but he felt a kick against his seat. When he turned to look, Shinsou shook his head. So with a frown, he pursed his lips and slumped back.

About fifteen minutes later as Koshi-san was wandering around the class to talk to the kids, Izuku leant back in his seat and turned a little, trying to talk without drawing much attention.

“He shouldn’t be saying that stuff” he whispered harshly, angry for his friend.

Shinsou sighed and moved forward “Its not worth it. My mom said to me, its important to pick your battles”

Then he sat back before the teacher looked over.

‘Pick your battles… so if a hero only has enough energy for a set amount of work a day, he should pick which villain battles or rescues are the most important? I wonder-‘

“Izuku Aizawa! Stop that muttering and carry on with your work!”

He jumped and looked up, of course half the class was looking at him so he felt sweaty with embarrassment “Sorry Miss” 

Izuku went through the day ‘picking his battles’ - at recess he pulled Shinsou out of the way of a pile of toilet paper dumped in front of him as they walked. Quickly to distract his friend, he excitedly showed him a picture of Haruto asleep on the couch with Tuna over his neck so he looked like he had a huge beard. 

At lunch he went with Shinsou and Inomaki to sit outside at the tables away from the mean people from the day before. He could do this, look after his friends without constantly getting into trouble with the biased teachers. And then if they went too far, he’d talk to his dad and Nezu so they could take care of the problem… or his brother who could threaten to turn them into crispy chicken nuggets.

“So, did you ask Shinsou and your other friend about the zoo?” Aizawa asked as he tapped away on his computer.

“Uhhh” Izuku looked over to Haruto who shrugged “Not yet”

“There’s no rush, we still have a few days right?” Haruto added

“Well yeah but if you ask too late they might have other plans…” 

Izuku nodded and smiled… but narrowed his eyes, ‘why is dad smiling like that…’

“What about you Haruto? Did you ask Megumi Fushiguro yet?”

‘Oh he’s been digging into Haruto’s friend’

Haruto froze

“He doesn’t do much on a weekend, just has his paper round on a friday afternoon and a sunday morning” Aizawa added

Haruto stood robotically eyes wide and unfocused.

“Not sure who his dad is, it never came up in conversation… wonder if its someone I’ve met before…”

Haruto ignored Aizawa, stomping into the kitchen, opening the fridge and pulling the half block of Mozzarella left from sunday pizzas. Then he turned to glare and took a huge bite of the cheese. After an excruciatingly long stare off, he huffed, took another bite and aggressively walked up the stairs, slamming his bedroom door when he got to the top.

Aizawa chuckled and carried on with his work.

The next day he’s much more relaxed, especially when shinsou exchanged phone numbers with him on the walk to school. And Inomaki added him to a group chat at lunch. It meant he could chat with them later after school and just slide the zoo topic into the chat!

After lunch he was still in a good mood when they went to afternoon physical education, but on his way out of the locker room Kasui snuck up while he was chatting to Shinsou and pushed him into the locker.

Back before he got his quirk, well… back before he met his dad, he would have been upset, maybe cowered, maybe he would have flinched away from the contact.

Now, after months of Aizawa’s hell on earth training regime, not only was Izuku built with lean muscle but he also knew self defence… some of what he’d learnt couldn’t even be classed as self defence, considering the number of kicks he’d mastered. 

Now he wasn’t going to take this. 

No more putting up with bullies.

He quickly turned, grabbing Kasui’s wrist, locking the boys arm and forcing him face first into the very locker he’d just been shoved into. He held onto that arm, twisting the boys  hand and holding the wrist at an uncomfortable angle. He heard a very quiet “Woah” from nearby but was too busy scowling to check who it was from.

“Don’t push people around Kasui.” He growled out.

And before the boy could retaliate with his quirk, he backed away, nodding to Shinsou to keep walking with him.

Kasui looked absolutely furious and he was certain, at some point, things were going to escalate but for now, he just basked in the glow at the look of adoration Shinsou was sending him.

Once they exited the room, his friend leant into his side to excitedly whisper “That was so cool! He’s going to have it out for you now- but that was super cool. Your brother said you train with your dad right? Is he like some secret martial artist? Did he teach you to fight?”

“Ah we did a lot of strength training and some self defence… he… my dad’s awesome.”

“You think he could train me? I wanted to go join a karate class or something, y’know get fit so when its time for the entrance exams in a few years, I’ll kick butt”

‘Now… Now is the perfect time! Forget after school! Talk about how I could introduce him to dad, say I’d ask dad about training then I could slip in something about the zoo. I can be cool like Haruto!’

“Hey you wanna go zoo on saturday?!”

‘Not cool like Haruto’

Shinsou looked a little confused

‘Save it save it save it’

“My dad’s taking us, we could ask about the training!”

Shinsou’s tired eyes brightened “Oh yeah, that sounds cool! I’ll ask when I get home and text you”

Before they could go into it any more, the gym teacher was calling for them to split into groups for small team games and once again, the rest of the day streamed by.

“Text you in a bit! See ya Aizawas!” Shinsou called as he jogged off down the street

“Ah you asked about the zoo then?”

“Yep! I was smooth as a cucumber!” Izuku smiled happily, a pep in his step, missing his brother biting his lip and staring out into the road to hide the way he was trying not to laugh.

“He’s asking his parents and I’m in a group chat with Inomaki but she said she can’t come because her family is going away for the weekend” 

Aizawa leaned back onto his hands as he sat at the kotatsu “Good work Zu. What about you Haruto? You ask your friend yet?” 

Haruto glared and stomped into the kitchen, grabbed a handful of nuts and chomped them aggressively before huffing and going upstairs. Aizawa shook his head with a soft smile, hunching forward to carry on with his sprawled paperwork.

Izuku was watching a slow motion video of a dog who was terrible at catching food when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Looking over to the gap in the curtains at the sliding door, he spotted Cardboard Mic being lowered down with a string onto the balcony. He desperately tried to keep his giggles in as he checked that his dad hadn’t seen (he was sat with his back to the balcony door so all was clear). A minute later Haruto came steaming down the stairs “I’m just going into the garden” winking at Izuku on his way past.

Another few minutes later he heard his brother calling from outside “Dad! Can you come supervise my quirk practice? Just from the balcony.”

Izuku sucked in a breath ‘don’t laugh don’t laugh’

His dad was obviously marking homework because he didn’t notice Izuku’s rapidly pinking face as he held his breath “Yeah one sec!”

The tired hero stood up, grumbling something about joints popping and not even being 30 yet, and walked to the window. As he passed Izuku, the boy quickly switched to the video function on his phone to record his reaction.

When Aizawa pulled open the curtain, he yelped and jumped so violently that he pulled the curtain rail off the wall. When it came down, not only did it bonk onto the guy’s head but it spooked Tuna into jumping a foot off the ground then scrambling to get away and knocking a lamp over.

The man stood in front of the door, quirk activated “No phone, laptop or TV for two days”

He heard a distant teenage voice call out “Worth it”

By Friday Haruto was cranky, Aizawa didn’t bother asking if he’d invited Fushiguro to the zoo anymore, not since the curtain rail incident. But it was obvious what the answer was anyway.

“Alright grumpy bum, go collect dinner for us and I’ll double your spending money for the weekend.”

Haruto rolled his eyes and set off. But when he came back it was like he was a different boy, he… was… smiling.

“What happened? When am I getting a call from the police?”

“Ughhh don’t do dad jokes… I uhh… bumped into my friends from school.” He looked at the floor, rubbing his neck. Izuku looked closely and noticed Haruto’s face was… a little pink? Was he hot? Haruto continued “Fushiguro and Zenin, a girl we hang out with at lunch time… umm they said they’re free on Saturday to come to the zoo” 

Izuku gasped “YAY!!”

Very early on Saturday morning, Aizawa started rushing around the house, grumbling as he grabbed a jelly pouch from the fridge “Mic will be here soon, he’ll take you to the Zoo, I’ve been called to an out of control quirk that triggered a whole bunch of chaos. I’m not sure how long I’ll be but you” he tugged Izuku in for a hug “And you” he did the same for Haruto “Have a great time, enjoy the day with your friends. If you need more money, ask Mic.” He jogged down the stairs and shouted up “See you later boys!” Then he was gone.

Mic arrived about 10 minutes later and made himself a coffee, crying with laughter as the boys retold the tales of his Cardboard doppelgänger.

A couple of hours later, Izuku was buzzing with excitement, standing at the entrance for the zoo with Haruto, Mic had already gone in to avoid the crowds (he was a popular hero and radio host after all but he promised to meet them at the car if they texted at the end of the day). 

After a whole week hanging out with Shinsou, he wasn’t nervous about their friendship anymore so now he could focus on the things he really wanted to see.

“So why do you have a list?” Shinsou asked after they chatted while waiting for Haruto’s friends.

“My quirk! I mean, Ne- uhhh the quirk specialist seems to think I might be able to turn into more than just butterflies.” 

Shinsou looked like he wanted more detail so he continued “And I can turn into butterflies because I… had seen a lot when I was a kid” ‘More or less’

“Right… so come on, what’s your list?”

“Great White Pelican! They’ve got huge mouths and a 12ft wing span!” Izuku bounced around, animately moving his arms as he spoke “A Peregrine Falcon, they can fly up to 90km an hour! And when they dive, up to 380km an hour! A lion, because well, it's a lion. A Cottonmouth Viper because they have a super fast strike and a Red Panda”

Haruto turned around to look at them “Why a Red Panda?”

“They’re cute”

Another 10 minutes later he saw Fushiguro walking up with a tall, green haired girl. She had a fringe and the rest of her hair pulled up in a pony tail, her glasses framed golden coloured eyes

“Aizawa! So which one is your brother? Neither look like you!” she chuckled 

“Its the green one” Fushiguro droned as he rubbed his face.

“Hey fellow greenie!” 

Izuku beamed, happy that his brother had cool friends.

The two friend groups set off in different directions, Izuku promising to keep out of trouble and would text every now and then.

“So where first?” Shinou asked “Potential quirk animals or cute and fluffy”

Izuku’s eyes sparkled and the other boy rubbed his neck, looking a little nervous? Embarrassed? Izuku wasn’t sure but before he could say anything, Shinsou continued “Ok cute and fluffy it is”

“Just look at its little cheeks, its so cute! I hope they have little Red Panda teddies at the gift shop” 

Shinsou laughed “Seriously? We’re 10 soon aren’t we getting too old for teddies” 

“Nooo!! Anyway, its not for me, occasionally my quirk can flare up in the middle of the night and I’d hate for it to catch fire-“

“Shit, no that would be bad, your whole room could catch on fire!” 

Izuku froze, instantly sweating and getting a thick throat

“So who’s it for then?”

He coughed, trying to free up his voice and pull himself away from negatively spiralling thoughts

“Oh here, I bought juice boxes…” if Shinsou noticed his panic, he didn’t mention it, pulling his bad forward and rummaging around to pull out two small cartons “So you want apple or tropical?”

Izuku smiled and croaked “Apple please… thanks Shinsou”

After sipping the drink and staring at the overload of cute around the tree “I want to get it for my dad… I just think it will be sweet”

“Look at its hair” Both boys laughed heartily “Its Kasui pahahaha”

“Don’t insult the monkey Shinsou”

They both fell about laughing “Look its picking its butt!!” Shinsou screeched

“Oh it really is Kasui!!” Izuku wheezed as he laughed “Sorry, someone find a staff member, the name plaque is wrong - Francois' Langur Monkey is not how you spell Kasui poopoohead”

“I don’t want to go in there” Shinsou stood his ground, crossing his arms

“But you have to get through the spider section to get to the snakes!” Izuku whined

“No dice, just go in through the exit at the other side.”

“Oh Shinsou come oooohhnnnnnnnn!” He whined harder “Look who’s your favourite hero? I bed I can get you some merch for them”

Shinsou cocked his head back and let out a laugh “Oh I very much doubt it”

“Who is it?” Izuku’s curiosity took over “Tellmetellmetellme”

“Bahhh!! Eraserhead… he’s super cool, fights pretty much quirkless you know”

Izuku blinked and pulled back stiffly before melting a little with a smile “He’s my favourite too… my uhhh my quirk came in later than everyone else and he… well, I thought I was going to end up quirkless so…”

Shinsou nodded “I get it… that umm, must’ve been hard” Izuku just frowned but Shinsou carried on, brightening his voice “Come on, lets go to the Aviary section, there is no Eraserhead merch you can bribe me with… plus I think there’s a demonstration with that bird, the fast one on your list”

Izuku smiled, plotting things in his mind.

“oooOOOooooohhh” Izuku and Shinsou joined in with the crowds that ooh’d and aah’d at the insane speed and accuracy of the bird swooping and diving around in an exciting display. His face was hurting from smiling, today had been great. He looked at his friend beside him who was also looking wildly impressed at the display. Yeah, today had been so great!

“Now then Izuku, I understand you had a trip to the zoo yesterday. Did you see a lot of creatures? Are you ready to try some new things?” Nezu asked, that familiar excitable gleam in his eyes

“Yep, I have a list!! I can’t wait to try!” He jumped forward with a determined expression.

Of course after an hour, he still couldn’t turn into the Lion… or the Viper, or the Pelican or even the stupid Kasui Monkey. 

He sat with a huff “I don’t get it, what am I missing?”

“I think perhaps we should just focus on the birds you saw… there’s a reason your quirk is named Wings of Fire…” Nezu said as he sat beside the boy

“So when you guys talked about turning into things, you mean just birds? No- things with wings?”

Nezu nodded “I did a little investigation into your family history and your great grandmother’s quirk meant she could communicate with anything with wings… so I believe there’s a connection through the quirk that way.” Then he hopped back up and rubbed his paws together “But there was no harm in trying other things… now tell me… which was your favourite bird?”

Izuku leant back, looking up towards the ceiling and drifting into his memories, the oooh’s and aaahhhh’s ringing in his mind and Shinsou’s awestruck face at the fast and graceful bird display.

“Peregrine Falcon”

Nezu nodded to the mat (still in place, in case Izuku landed harshly on his butt by accident) so he stepped forward, focusing on the bird, its mottled brown wings, its smooth beak and yellow talons “It looked like some sort of crazy jet plane when it dived” he mumbled to himself as he closed his eyes.

That familiar feeling drawing inwards flushed through him with a lovely warm glow, he felt bigger this time, so he spread his wings and took off, shooting through the air of the high roofed gym. He was practically screaming on the inside. He did it! 

And holy heck was it fast, he could feel the flames on his wings glowing with the hottest fire he’d produced as he dived like a bomb. Haruto was whooping and hollering in the echoey room and as stupid as it sounded, he had the biggest smile a beaked face could muster. 

This was awesome.

Chapter Text

Sunday night after a lot of training and watching Izuku work out transforming into something different, everyone was in bed early. Izuku actually had to be carried to bed, his head lolled around on Aizawa’s arm like a creepy doll.

As he laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, he thought back to the zoo. It had been a fun trip, especially being stuck between the energetic friendly Zenin and the regularly grumpy Fushiguro, he felt pretty good having them as friends.

xxx Flashback to the second day of school xxx

“So you still want to come to the roof for lunch?” Fushiguro asked as they packed up

Haruto nodded, keeping his eyes down on his bag, not wanting to seem too keen.

“Alright, you need something from the canteen first?”

“Uh yeah, I’ll be quick though”

Ten minutes later he was following the other teen up the stairs, through an emergency exit propped open with a brick and out onto the roof. There was a blanket with a green haired teenage girl sitting and chatting to some twin boys, both with black hair and strange pale eyes.

Fushiguro looked back over his shoulder, jerking his head up in a sort of ‘come on’ motion so he quietly closed the door against the brick, making sure it was secure, then speed walked to catch up.

Fushiguro pointed a thumb “Guys, this is Haruto Aizawa, he’s new, has a pleasant dislike for the spangly heroic system, wildly powerful fire quirk” and then he sat down, pulling things out of his bag for lunch leaving Haruto standing there gobsmacked like a bit of a fool.

“Fushi jeez!” The girl shoved his shoulder and stood up and extended a hand for him to shake “Maki Zenin, powerful family, quirkless”

He shook her hand, eyebrows raising just a little, then the twins stood and did the same “Daiki Noiaji, I can taste what my brother eats” said one, immediately followed by “Aizen Noiaji, I can smell what my brother smells” and then together “We’re identical twins, we stick together, Fushi beat up the kids bullying us!” Then they sat back down, gesturing for him to do the same.

After blinking a couple of times, he crossed his ankles and sat down, resting his tray on his knees. 

It was nice.

Despite being pretty quiet, especially because everyone was eating, it didn’t feel awkward. Zenin had a warm smile too, even if she did look distant at times. 

Fushiguro noticed him carefully eying the girl and sighed. “So… what’s your thoughts on Maki’s quirk status?” 

Haruto looked at the boys cold expression and instantly understood. The boy was loyal and protective, something he could appreciate. It made a tiny smile curl at the edge of his lips “My brother’s quirk didn’t come in until he was eight, we all thought he was quirkless. I think the way people and society obsess over quirks is appalling, I thought you’d figured that out about me”

One of the twins jumped into the conversation “But that doesn’t exactly describe on your thoughts on the quirkless”

It was his turn to sigh, putting down his chopsticks, looking at the twins and Zenin “Quirks do not define a person” ‘I sound like dad’ “They are a tool for a person to use, just because a person does not have one, doesn’t make them any less of a person or any less capable as a human being.” 

After he’d finished talking, he looked over to Fushiguro just in time to see a smile spread across his face, slowly getting bigger until it seemed a little unhinged, eyes sparkling with excitement. It honestly took his breath away because while he looked a little terrifying, he also looked stunning… and it made his stomach feel weird… and why was his heart practically punching the inside of his chest?

He instantly looked back down at the food in his lap, not really hungry anymore and yet hungry all at the same time.

xxx End of flashback xxx 

So yeah, the zoo was great because he’d grown closer to his friends over the week and while he just seemed to fall apart or completely close up when it came to asking about the zoo, he’d gotten the chance on the friday night and it all worked out in the end.

Monday morning rolled around and he was back with the nut job gym teacher. But this week the guy was on to him, pushing him and testing his strength and endurance to get “further baseline results”. It was bullshit but at least quirks were not involved. 

That night, Aizawa headed out on patrol, stating that due to Izuku’s quirk evolution over the weekend, Mic was coming to hang out with them for the night, just in case.

“He’ll be here in about 10 mins, have a good night and don’t cause any dramas!” Aizawa called as he gracefully hopped down the stairs and out of sight.

The second the front door closed, he was on it like a hawk “Zu where’s Mic?”

“Dad said he’ll be here in about 10 mins” Izuku mumbled from his spot at the kotatsu, pile of m&m’s in front of him, ready for colour sorting.

“No- Cardboard Mic” he pressed, smiling wickedly when Izuku turned around with a frown.

“Why?”

“I wanna put him in dad’s bed, then send Mic in there to get something” Haruto pulled back the grin, replaced with a trained look of nonchalance as he tapped his chin and looked around the room a little.

“That” Izuku started as he rolled around and stood up “Is a terrible idea… you remember what Mic’s quirk is right?”

Haruto nodded, grin coming back.

Izuku kept on staring at him, he wasn’t sure if the kid was thinking about helping, lecturing, tattling-

“he’s in my room, I’ll be right back” Izuku skipped towards the stairs.

“You’re a certified Cheshire Cat Izuku Aizawa”

“Lies and sandals” the boy shouted as he jogged up the stairs.

“Slander!” He chuckled “Its lies and slander!”

“Whatever” Izuku reappeared with his precious cardboard friend in hand.

Haruto snatched it away, practically jumping down the whole staircase, ignoring Izuku’s screeching about taking care of it.

About five minutes later Mic came in, joining the boys on the couch and chatting about what he’d been doing during the day. “And that’s what Homonyms are in the English language”

“So like bark of a dog or off a tree” Haruto added to the discussion.

“You got it little listener” the hero and English teacher beamed brightly, missing the calculating look in the teen’s eyes

“I think dad’s got an English dictionary on the bookcase in his bedroom, can you go get it for us please?” Haruto asked casually, giving Izuku a stern look when the boy turned to look at him so fast he nearly knocked his drink over “We’re not allowed in dad’s room”

“Uh yeah sure, just give me 2 secs”

The boys stayed locked in an intense stare-off as the man descended the stairs, almost holding their breath in anticipation.

…

…

“WHHHHAAAAAAAAAT!!” The hero screamed so loudly, they heard glass shattering.

Of course their smiles drooped a little “Dad’s gonna kill us” Izuku whispered.

“Mic might not realise it was us, he might think dads in love with h-“

Hizashi was already coming up the stairs and cut in “Haruto, that was seven years back luck. And yes of course I realised it was you-“ the teen opened his mouth to protest and attempt to throw Izuku under the bus but the man held up his hand, then pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“Shouta… no…. They’re fine, I on the other hand almost had a heart attack and in my panicked state I yelled loudly-“

“Squealed like a stuck pig” Haruto whispered, getting an hard glare

“And the mirror in your bathroom has shattered…. Yes… it was in your bed… ok” he held out the phone to the teen.

Gingerly he held the device up to his ear

“Haruto Aizawa.” His dad’s voice sounded threateningly cold

‘Fuck’

“Yes dad” he looked at Izuku.

“Did you put Cardboard Mic in my bed- and don’t try blame your brother. Ninety percent of incidents are your doing Problem Teen.”

‘Ah shit. I’m dead. So tragic. Life cut short too early. So sad.’

“Yes… I was defending your honour” he smirked jumping over the couch, out of arms reach of Mic.

“What do you mean?”

“He was laughing about us making you jump with it, he cried when he saw the one where you got beaned by the curtain rail-“ he jumped over the kotatsu as the blonde started squawking indignantly and lunging to grab back the phone “He even paid Izuku-“ another jump “To send him the video the other day”

“Oh really… pass back the phone”

Haruto smirked as he passed the phone back, skipping into the kitchen and ducking under a back handed swipe on the way.

“Shooooo… ah… well you see…. Right absolutely.” 

Hizashi hung up the phone and pointed to Haruto “Don’t you ever become a villain you hear me?” Then he grabbed the dustpan and brush from the bottom of the pantry and set off towards the stairs, grumbling as he went.

The rest of the week glides by in the blink of an eye and sunday morning rolled around before he’d even realised. He was sat watching Izuku fly around the room, perfecting changing directions with speed in his falcon form when Aizawa, Snipe, Midnight and Nezu walked over to chat.

“Midnight and Snipe are going to continue quirk training with Izuku, we’d like it if you could come for a chat with us in my office” 

Nezu’s cheery smile didn’t go up to his eyes and it made the teen feel uneasy but his dad was there so surely it wasn’t anything too nefarious.

“Sure” 

The trio sat in the office with cups of steaming hot tea, once they were settled Aizawa pressed a gentle hand between his shoulder blades “We need to talk about your… birth family”

The man looked a little awkward in his phrasing but he understood why, he could feel the calming circles being rubbed on his back but it didn’t stop him tensing up.

When he glanced at his dad, the man gave a tiny smile so with a deep breath and unclenched fists he replied “okay, I’m ready”

“I have been investigating the Todoroki household, using multiple aliases and a variety of means. Unfortunately, I discovered that your mother is indeed no longer living on the Todoroki property. Approximately a year after the incident on Sekoto Peak, your birth mother’s mental health continued to decline due to the abuse in the house, it culminated in her having what was described as a manic episode where he confused the left side of Shouto, specifically his eye due to the sharp blue colour, with that of Enji Todoroki. She panicked or snapped, depending on how you want to say it and poured boiling water on his face over that eye. Upon realising her mistake, she tried to cool it with her ice quirk which burned him further.”

Nezu paused to allow him to process the information.

But he couldn’t, all he felt was intense rage. Boiling bubbling fury making tears well into his eyes as memories of Shouto’s isolation and repeated abuse, his mother’s desperate attempt to stop it. But then he also remembered the fights he’d had with Rei, shouting about her ‘purpose’ and the reason for the marriage. Yet when he’d awoken from the coma, he wanted to say sorry. He was so confused, the anger towards Endeavor was a given, his jealousy of Shouto that somewhere along the lines had merged with pity thanks to Izuku’s interference was understood. But how did he feel about his mother, there was a complicated mix of feelings that he just didn’t know what to do with.

“When Enji returned home, Shouto received medical treatment and Rei was institutionalised.”

His eyes widened, Rei broke and the bastard had Shouto all to himself. The puppet master and his-

“I know this is a lot to take in” Aizawa’s voice cut through the spiralling descent “if you need more time, we can talk more later. I’ve set up a meeting for after school tomorrow with Inui”

Haruto sucked in a shaky breath “Thanks… lets just… what else is there to talk about?” He looked at Nezu “I’d rather get this all over and done with.”

The rat nodded “I have gathered numerous forms of evidence of the abuse that continues in the Todoroki household, from the past and present. I will be presenting this to Endeavor and a Hero commission representative with the intention of getting the children removed from his care and either placed in foster care with a hero, as a ward of UA or adopted by a hero here.”

“Right” he jerked around stiffly, moving on the chair as the beginnings of a headache began to ache in his temples.

“I have something for you to consider Haruto, we could use what happened to Touya as part of that evidence. We could go further and announce that you in fact survived, have been renamed and are in protective custody. This would be further fuel for the fire if you pardon the pun - it would add further damming testimony to the case, particularly if you were to give a statement about the abuse you witnessed. In the end we could keep you from the adoption list and simply inform them that you are currently living with a hero and his other child and have happily moved on from the Todoroki name and family. And that way you wouldn’t need to hide your heritage and your adoption by Aizawa would be 100% legal.”

Haruto shakily lifted his teacup to sip the cooled drink “Would I have to see him?”

“I’d like to say no… but there’s a small possibility. He may potentially want to see evidence of your survival. However we could make it a condition that only photographic or video evidence be provided, or perhaps a call at most… but only if it all comes to that. I’m sure that all of this is an incredible amount to take in”

He couldn’t speak, only leaning in a little closer to his dad for support. After a minute he rasped “I need to think about it”. Aizawa pulled him into a hug, slightly uncomfortable while they were sat side by side on the couch but he wasn’t complaining. He needed his dad right now… “I need Izuku” he whispered into Aizawa’s shoulder.

“I’d like to tell you the four options I’ll be presenting them if that’s ok?” Nezu continued, not realising (or understanding) the emotional exhaustion the teen was feeling “The ideal option, I’ll call it option 1 - is that Endeavor makes an announcement that he’s turning his life around, he realised his mistakes, he’s taking anger management courses and attending therapy - whether he actually does or not isn’t of my concern, it just helps pad out the press release - and that he’s chosen to give the children to a fitting home where they can receive the right amount of love and care while he helps with his wife’s recovery while still being our number two hero”

Haruto almost snarls, what a crock of bullshit. But Nezu is smart, the hero commission and more stupid members of the public will eat that up.

“Option 2 is to simply put the kids up for adoption and say he needs to focus on heroics. Option 3 is basically the same as options 1 and 2 except its all done completely secret and out of the press, Option 4 they leave everything as it is and I release everything to the press, so they can handle it from there. And realistically nobody wants that.”

Haruto wants to argue that last point because he would love to burn Endeavor’s legacy to the ground but… it’s complicated.

Sensing his discomfort, Aizawa pulled the boy into standing “That’s enough Nezu, the kid needs to get away from this stress. We’re going to grab Izuku and head home”

“Very well, have a lovey afternoon, I look forward to hearing your thoughts Haruto.”

Aizawa growled as he pulled the teen out of the room.

As the pair wander down the hallway, Haruto’s mind buzzed with a combination of anxiety and anger. He doesn’t want to face his… well he doesn’t even want to call him father because he doesn’t deserve the title. He could happily go the rest of his life never interacting with Enji, having everything out in the open feels terrifying. What if in a frantic bid to keep his precious creation, Endeavor tries to go after Aizawa or Izuku…

“Are you and Izuku going to be safe with all this?” The question bursts from his lips as he begins panicked panting, his eyes sting as they grow wide. Enjoy Todoroki is barbaric, creating his masterpiece is all that mattered to him, taking that away could drive the hero-

“Nezu is insanely clever, I can assure you that all three of us are and will be safe” Aizawa’s voice is soft as he pushes through the teen’s thoughts “Look at me, I’d like you to focus on my voice and listen to my words… you are safe, Izuku is safe, I’m safe, nothing has happened yet-“

“But Shouto isn’t safe! I… he- I mean, he’s the same age as Izuku and he- he’s being brutalised in training, isolated, beaten! Picture that as Izuku! Remember what he went through with his dad, the broken bones! Its the-“

“Haruto! I need you to breathe, remember you have people who love you, Izuku is safe and we are going to make Shouto safe too.”

The teen was barely paying attention when Hound dog approached, the school counsellor joining them to discuss ways of coping with stressful situations, breathing techniques, calming techniques and generally ways to help himself when things starting to spiral out of control. Inui was kind despite his gruff exterior and literally growling so Haruto was feeling a little better, about the appointment with the man the next day.

The next day, Haruto wakes earlier than usual and sits on the couch with Aizawa long before Izuku is due to roll out of bed. He’d tried not to think about everything but it kept creeping back into his head. But the good thing was, he’d come to a decision.

“I’m ok with- well I’m not okay but I mean I’m comfor- no that’s ughhhh.” The teen huffed in frustration before setting a steely gaze on his dad “Tell Nezu he can use me in the evidence and if I need to give a statement or something I will. He can tell him that I’m alive” 

Haruto took a very deep breath, slowly releasing it and trying to shake out the tension in his shoulders “but I want it made clear that I want nothing to do with the man. You’re my dad, he’s nothing to me but a monster. Please… tell him to get my siblings away from him.”

“I will do… I’ll let you know how it all goes… I’m proud of you Haruto”

Three weeks later, the teen was huddled up on the couch, surrounded by Izuku, Shouta and a ton of blankets and soft toys thanks to his little brothers coddling. The trio watch as Endeavor talks his way through a press conference filled with bullshit and lies, the only thing that is even remotely truthful is Enji’s intense rant about pushing towards being the number one hero and putting the safety of the community before all other needs. He can’t stop the bitter tears that streak down his cheeks when everyone laps it up and showers him with praise. 

Endeavor adds at the end that he hopes his children become as incredible heroes as him and carry on his tradition of saving lives at all cost.  

It takes everything he has to not set fire to the television. Even then, Aizawa is ready to nullify his quirk and for once, he’s incredibly grateful because he feels like a rage fuelled rampage of heat and flames is just begging to spring forth from the tips of his fingers. But he promised Izuku they would survive and once all of the dust from this settles he wonders if maybe he could go see his mother and give her the apology he thought of moments after he woke from that coma all those months ago. And maybe one day… he could, maybe see his siblings… maybe.

Chapter Text

The next couple of weeks are tense, Haruto is moodier than ever and Izuku (and probably his dad) kinda think its like walking on egg shells around the teen. But gradually things start to calm down, Endeavor isn’t on the news as much and the teen’s friends come over occasionally for an hour after school too. Izuku is pretty sure its all of these things combined with the few visits with Hound Dog that things get better.

July springs up on everyone in the blink of an eye. At the start of the month it had been Shinsou’s birthday and he was eternally grateful Inomaki told him, because his purple haired friend insisted that it stay a secret and the only celebration was going to be a formal dinner with his parents, where, as he predicted, one of them cancelled at the last minute because of work. But it was still fun and he had grown closer to his two friends with every passing day.

Izuku wakes up full of energy on his tenth birthday and he kind of wants to scream with excitement because this birthday was going to be different. He couldn’t even remember when he got to have a fun exciting birthday… it was probably his fourth birthday and his memories are a little fuzzy. 

No, this one is worth being excited for. He was going hero merch shopping with uncle Zashi in the morning, then they were going for lunch with Haruto, Auntie Nem and his dad. But then….

“Gah!” Izuku flung his arms and legs out like a star fish, sending his bedding flying “I want the arcade now” he quietly whined to himself, staring at the ceiling.

A few moments later, there was a gentle knock at the door.

“Zu?”

“Hey ‘ruto, sorry if I woke you up.”

Haruto gently pushed the door open, his hair looked wilder than usual, looking more and more like a typical disgruntled teen with every passing month.

“Happy tenth birthday baby Brother” Haruto’s rough voice had a softness that was pretty much reserved for him. The teen crouched down, pretending to give him a hug before quickly bundling him up in a blanket and hauling him into his arms “DAD!”

Izuku winced away from the shout, barely hearing the tired response from downstairs.

“I’ve got a swaddled baby up here, no ten year old’s in sight”

He squirmed and giggled as Haruto’s bony fingers dug teasingly into his ribs.

After breakfast, Izuku opened the presents from his dad and brother, so far things were going spectacularly! Shopping with Uncle Zashi was also a lot of fun, he especially loved the Hawks and Edgeshot t-shirts the hero bought him. 

Lunch time rolled around quickly and Izuku was brimming with happiness, he’d never felt so loved. Midnight had bought him gymnastics lessons, one a week for six months! It was insane! She told him it would help in the way he fought, how he transitioned between using his quirk, fighting and then diving back into using his quirk, of course acrobatics would help.

“Auntie Nem, you’re so smart!!” he beamed.

The woman squealed loudly, boasting on and on about having two beautiful nephews (and whispering not too quietly about taking Haruto for more piercings after lunch).

At three pm it was the moment he’d been waiting for… the arcade! He met Shinsou at the top of the street, bouncing around, brimful of excited energy.

“Happy birthday Aizawa!” His friend looked tired as always but had a friendly smile “Inomaki is meeting us at the arcade and then we’re going for pizza right?”

“Yep!” He thrust out two thumbs up “No adults allowed!”

The boys chuckled and picked up the pace.

“Inomaki!!” Izuku yelled as he jogged up, Shinsou running and panting with a grimace.

“Easy does it!” She laughed putting her hands up to try calm the boys “You got that out of your system” then she nodded to the obviously puffed out purple haired boy “Lets cut him some slack.”

“Haha sorry, I got excited! I’ve never been to an arcade!” The second it left his lips he regretted it, the way the other two frowned a little, faltering in their steps towards the door. He felt his body tense up but before he could panic anymore, a soft hand gripped his shoulder.

“Don’t cry over spilt milk” said Inomaki softly “Good things come to those who wait!”

When they stepped through the door, the bright lights made spots on his eyes as he blinked and the ringing, jingling and rattling noises were intense… and everything was absolutely amazing. Izuku had the widest, brightest grin he could muster, he began to realise that his face would probably still be aching the next day with how it was all going!

“Alright Aizawa” Shinsou opened his arms wide like a circus announcer “you want to dance? Shoot hoops? Gun games? Mario Kart racing ga-“

“Oooooooooh! Racing! Racing! And then dancing, although I’m super bad at it. I want to try everything!!”

“The world is your oyster” cheered his other friend.

“Press the button when you want to drop the next block of apartments, if you don’t line it up right, the block gets smaller and it gets harder” Shinsou explained another game while they recovered from dancing, over his shoulder Inomaki carried on, flinging herself around on the floor pad, utterly ungraceful but hitting the moves in time.

“Got it”

‘Hit…. hit… oh… oh damn… hit… wait…. Its speeding up… hit… its small and fast…’

“Shinsou! This is really stressfuuuuuuulllllllll” 

The tired looking boy laughed at Izuku’s theatrics, pulling him over to a zombie shooting game “Lets goooooooooo!!”

An hour and a half later, with a plastic Minecraft sword, a rainbow coloured slinky, four bars of weird flavoured kitkats, a sticky stretchy plastic slap hand and a furry Mirko themed pen - all tucked into a bag, Izuku stepped out of the arcade, still high off the excitement of being there.

“We should come here more often… not too often that it loses its shine though” he said thoughtfully.

Just as they walked away, two other boys passed them and Izuku jerked away like he’d touched a hot stove, panicking and panting, picking up his pace. Over his shoulder he heard one of their high pitched grating voices.

“Hey that kid reminded me of that loser Deku! Remember him? What a fucking-“

Izuku winced away from the words as the arcade doors closed on the winged and long finger quirked boys. He curled in on himself, desperate to get away from them, not even noticing the worried looks from his friends.

“Aizawa!” Shinsou called as he stepped close “Hey” he softly touched Izuku’s shoulder but that made him flinch away even more “Aizawa…. Its ok… its just me”

He stopped walking and looked up at the lilac eyes staring intensely, concern heavy in the gaze “Ummm”

“Dodge a bullet?” Inomaki asked softly

Izuku nodded, lowering his head to look at the floor “Yeah… uhh bullies from my old school. I’ve not seen them in a long time but still” he frowned as he looked back towards the arcade “Come on, I want to get away from here, lets get to the pizzeria”

The walk was quiet, he was trying not to let it dampen his spirits… but it was hard, something like that being thrust in his face like that… but when she said he dodged a bullet, she wasn’t wrong… they could have had Kacchan with them and that would have been a thousand times worse. And what would he have done if his friends overheard them talking about his ‘death’… this whole thing could have been a nightmare.

They cut through a small park, at this time of year, the flowers were stunning. Birds were tweeting, the sun was a little lower being later in the day so the shadows made the gardens look even prettier. He tried to shake the downward spiral, making an effort to remember everything good in his life right now. He has a loving family, he’s never hungry or cold, people don’t hurt him… he has friends. Looking at the two walking either side of him, things didn’t feel so bad anymore.

A moment later there was a frantic tapping on his arm and when he turned, Inomaki was pointing out a humming bird. It’s wings were beating so hard that it looked like it was just hovering over the flower, tongue flicking out.

“Look at it’s wings! It’s insane!” Izuku whispered. Then he turned to his friends with a smile “Thanks guys, I didn’t mean to get so somber on my birthday. Those guys are just dumb butt heads.”

“Sure looked like they were to me! Izuku Aizawa is the coolest cat there is!” Shinsou smiled

“You guys are great friends” he said with a slight wobble in his voice, turning back to watch the bird as it flitted from flower to flower.

Inomaki rested her chin on his right shoulder “Come rain or shine!”

“Hey…” he felt a little nudge on his left “call me Hitoshi” and another three excited taps on his other side “Oh call her Mei too.”

“Haha thanks guys, you can both call me Izuku!” He took a deep breath, once again he felt great, watching as the bird zipped away “Come on lets go get Pizza… if I don’t get 100 slices of pepperoni pizza in my tum soon, I’ll literally actually die.”

The entirety of the next week Izuku remained on cloud nine (as Mei had called it). Despite things at school occasionally feeling a little dicey, his happy mood carried on into the next week and perhaps that was what triggered Kasui to ramp up things up.

It was the end of the day and Shinsou had left school twenty minutes early for an appointment with a sleep specialist. Just as he was about to pack up, a paper airplane narrowly missed his face, making him flinch back on reflex. As usual the teacher didn’t say anything, already packing away her things. Takahashi, one of Kasui’s friends ran over, bumping forcefully into the table.

“Oh sorry Aizawa” the kid jeered as Izuku’s pens and pencils spilled out of his pencil case and onto the floor “I was just trying to get my plane back” he said loudly.

Miss Iyashi looked up with narrowed eyes “Stop dallying Aizawa, its the end of the day and everyone is tired.”

Izuku grumbled under his breath, picking his things up, watching as Kasui and his minions left the classroom. A couple of minutes later he slung his bag on his back and made his way to his locker. He was putting his extra books into his bag when he heard loud thumping footsteps. 

Turning around he saw Kasui charging at him, the boy had an angry, almost manic looking smile plastered on his face. Izuku sucked in a breath ready to flip the guy away with his self defence straining but at the last second Kasui activated his quirk. The boy’s skin was suddenly covered in 2cm long sharp spikes and on reflex, Izuku activated his own quirk.

The angry boy’s eyes widened in shock as he phased through the fiery falcon, slamming into the locker. He instantly screeched at the heat as his clothes singed and eyebrows burnt off. Izuku flapped to the side, deactivating his quirk just as the teacher ran out of the classroom down the hall.

“IZUKU AIZAWA!” She bellowed “What is the meaning of his heinous act! Principals office immediately!!” Her voice got higher and higher as she went on, running down the hall in badly fitting heels. “Kasui! My goodness are you ok?!”

Izuku walked over to grab his clothes and shoes from the crumpled pile in the floor beside the other boy. The jerk looked at him and smirked before plastering a poor attempt at fear and anguish on his face.

“He attacked me! I was walking past and he grabbed me, slammed me into the locker and tried to set fire to me with his quirk! He’s had it in for me since day one Miss!” The snivelling pest whined, breaking down into fake sobs.

“OH MY GOODNESS!” She cradled the boy’s face in her palms, looking at his crispy eyebrows.

Izuku was appalled, he shook his head out of the stunned daze to shout out “That’s a lie! HE attacked ME! I activated my quirk to stop from being spiked!”

“ENOUGH! Go to the principle’s office at once! We’ll be calling your father and the police!”

“GOOD!” He shouted back, stomping away with his belongings in his hands “I’m going to get dressed in the toilet!” He yelled back over his shoulder as he ducked in.

Once he was in the cubicle, he pulled out his phone with trembling hands, trying not to let his panic take over. Tears began to streak down his cheeks as he quickly called his dad.

“Izuku, what’s wrong?!” The man instantly answered, worry in his voice because Izuku never called, instead preferring to send multiple text messages filled with emojis and kaomojis.

“Kasui attacked me, with his quirk!” He sobbed out “I h-had to use mine to stop being s-spiked and when the teacher came out-“ he cut off with a loud wet cough “-he fed her a bunch of bullcrap and she believed him! He- h- he said I attacked him! And I’m being sent to the principles office!!” He started to pant in panic, fear flooding his veins “They’re c-calling the police dad!”

He could hear his dad’s echoey footsteps through the phone as the man ran through the hallways of UA “Izuku, try and slow your breathing love, try counting in your head and slow down. Don’t you worry, everything is going to be ok, I promise, just take some nice long breaths for me…I’ll talk to Nezu, we’ll sort this shit out” his dad’s voice got growly as he swore, turning sort again to add “You’re not in any trouble I promise.”

“Okay” he whimpered a little, pulling the toilet seat down so sit, listening as Aizawa crashed through a door “I’m j-just in the toilets. I need to get dressed again…” he sniffed loudly, pulling some tissue off to wipe his nose “I uhhh I mean m-my quirk burnt his eyebrows.”

“Good… well, no I shouldn’t say that… but on the plus side-” he heard Nezu chatting quietly in the back ground, his dad obviously signing or writing to the rat “He’s going to look like an idiot for a while.”

Izuku laughed, probably sounding like a drowned rat… but he took a deep breath “Thanks dad. They’re probably trying to call you so I’d better get dressed.”

“Don’t say anything until I get there. In fact, stay in there for at least five minutes, maybe even ten and then when you come out, you tell them you’re not talking until your dad is present.”

Izuku did exactly as he was told, taking his sweet time getting dressed and using the toilet, slowly washing his hands so by the time he came out he’d been in there well over ten minutes. When he couldn’t postpone it any longer he quietly peered out of the toilet doors to see Miss Iyashi waiting outside. The woman looked furious, her face twisting with a cruel smile as she spoke “I expected as much… calling your friends to gloat?” She stepped closer making Izuku swallow thickly “Or just getting ready to start your villainous career?” 

The door at the far end of the corridor opened, his dad’s voice booming out “I certainly hope you’re not threatening my son.”

The teacher stepped back, looking Aizawa up and down to judge him. She scoffed “I’m guessing you’re the boy’s father.”

Aizawa’s eyes narrowed as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, scrolling through a message and looking even angrier “Lets go… we have a LOT to discuss”

Izuku practically melted with relief, grabbing onto his dad’s hand as they walked behind the teacher. He wasn’t sure how he’d gotten to the school so fast but he was so glad however it happened.

When they walked into the office (still holding hands), Kasui was sat with two paper towel covered icepacks held against his forehead, an equally spiky looking father sat at his side “Ah I guess this is the young criminal, are we starting now or waiting for the police?”

“You might want to retract that statement Mr Kasui” Aizawa said with a calmness that Izuku didn’t quite understand. 

The man scoffed.

A minute later a police officer and a detective walked in, murmuring about being grateful that the man had an oversized office. When the two locked eyes with his dad and smiled, he felt his hand get a little comforting squeeze

Miss Iyashi stood to address the room “Thank you very much for coming so quickly” she held out a hand for the policemen to shake.

“Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi and this is officer Sansa Tamakawa, please lets get things rolling.”

The woman smiled sickly sweet “Now then, as evidenced by his injuries, this afternoon Kasui was attacked by Izuku Aizawa-“

“Hold on, did you actually see it?” Tsukauchi cut in.

Iyashi bristled but quickly composed herself “Well when I left the classroom upon hearing a sharp cry and a crash, Kasui was crumpled against the locker smoking a little and Aizawa was flapping around as a parrot or something”

“Falcon” Izuku muttered, staring at the floor, getting another little squeeze on the hand from his dad.

Iyashi scowled at Izuku and continued “Kasui said the boy attacked him and so I called this meeting.”

“And do you have any other evidence? Security footage perhaps?” Sansa asked, writing things down in a notebook.

Izuku tensed as the headmaster scoffed “I don’t really think that’s necessary, his injuries are more than enough.”

Tsukauchi sneaks a look at Aizawa, a slight frown on his face that becomes more prominent when the hero holds up a hand and casually says “That’s absolutely fine” then dips that hand into his pocket “My work colleague, Pro-Hero and Principle of UA was kind enough to retrieve the footage whilst I was on my way here.”

Izuku lets go of the breath he didn’t even know he was holding at the same time that Tsukauchi’s face relaxes. He sinks into his seat, rolling his tense shoulders, when he takes a  moment to sneak a look at Kasui, he has to bite his lip to stave off a grin. The boy is white as a sheet and sweating cobs ‘HA! Didn’t know my dad works at UA, in your face Fugu!’

Miss Iyashi and the headmaster looked equally pale, the man stuttering out “Y-you work at U-hhhh UA?”

“Ah yes, I’m a Pro-Hero as well” Aizawa said with schooled nonchalance. He tapped a few buttons on his phone letting go of Izuku’s hand so he could reach over and turn the headmaster’s monitor around, casting the video for all to see “So… looks to me like Izuku was minding his business… and there” he points as he pauses “You can see the other boy running at him” he unpaused “Aaaand activating his quirk, in an attempt to attack my son. Now if my son didn’t have a quirk that allowed solid objects to phase through him, he would have been severely injured.”

Kasui’s dad was now looking at his son with murderous intent, Izuku had a feeling it wasn’t a ‘how could you attack another student’ sort of anger but more of a ‘how could you get caught on camera attacking another student’ kind of thing. 

Aizawa continued “So really, any injury, loss of eyebrows-” he waved his hand, Izuku sucked in a breath and held it to stop a giggle from escaping. His dad’s attempt to look like a politician rather than a cold blooded killer as he obviously wanted was incredible. “- etc is purely a consequence of Izuku activating his quirk to prevent grievous lacerations.” 

“Well, I uhmmm I am extremely sorry for my son’s actions” Kasui’s father cleared his throat “Hopefully we can resolve this without the need for police intervention.”

Izuku looked up quickly to see a slow smile spreading on his dad’s face, it made him feel a little giddy. He was excited at how insanely different things were now, if something like this had happened at his old school, with Kacchan… well who was he kidding, this sort of crap HAD happened, maybe not with the police but still. Izuku always took the fall. Detentions, extra homework, more school tests, letters home… even when he was the one hurt and not Kacchan. But now… here he was, getting ready to listen to his dad getting revenge on his behalf. Perhaps these were not the most heroic of thoughts but his dad is a hero so he knows whatever the man does, it’s the best possible solution.

“Of course… Kasui will just be blacklisted from all hero courses in every high school in Japan”

The two teachers gasped and Kasui’s dad instantly started barking out complaints but Aizawa just cleared his throat to silence them.

“I can have your son charged and then he’ll have a permanent mark on his records and be banned from attending any hero course… the choice is yours. Don’t worry, I’ll let you think about it, they have 48 hours right Tsukauchi?”

Miss Iyashi’s eyes widened at the familiarity in his tone, then quickly narrowed “You know this man, detective?”

“This Pro-Hero and I have been working together for quite a few years” Tsukauchi chuckled at the situation, Sansa sitting beside him looked equally amused as the two teachers in the room realised the gravity of the situation “And yes, 48 hours. We’ll be on our way…” the man stopped before leaving “unless there was something else Aizawa?”

“Ah actually there is,” Aizawa said with a glare in Iyashi’s direction before quickly looking over at the father-son duo “but this doesn’t concern Kasui, so he and his dad can be on their way. We can call tomorrow about their decision.”

The man nodded, wiping his sweaty forehead and roughly grabbing his son’s collar, quickly leaving the office.

“Right, I’ll cut to the chase.” Aizawa got up and pressed his hands into the table, looking a little dangerous “I also have footage of Miss Iyashi being rude to my son, implying he is a villain from just moments ago, not to mention a compiled list of incidents of favouritism, ignorance regarding quirks and quite frankly, bullying. These aren’t just against my son either, one Hitoshi Shinsou has been frequently subjected to discrimination due to his-“

Miss Iyashi stood so quickly her chair fell to the floor “He is a menace! A villain in the making!! His quirk I-“

“So one case of quirk discrimination” Tsukauchi said as he took notes on his pad, he looked up at Aizawa, ignoring the woman who’s mouth was wide like a fish “Any physical retaliations in that file?”

“I’ll get Nezu to send through the evidence. Izuku, why don’t you wait outside.”

So before things got out of hand, Izuku left and sat on the chair in the corridor. He could hear angry screeching and arguments but it was quite muffled so he couldn’t make anything out.

Pulling out his phone and opening the group chat, he excitedly typed to his friends.

Broccoli: OH. MY. GOD   Σ(°ロ°)

Broccoli: It is going down at school. Kazui tried to jump me, got scorched eyebrows, he looks even more like a Fugu. He tried to blame me. Parents all got called in, police came. My dad basically tore them apart. I love my dad  ٩(◕‿◕。)۶

Songbird: What?!!??

Broccoli: I think Miss Iyashi is getting charged with discrimination. Dad had evidence, mentioned her quirkism against Hitoshi too ヽ(￣～￣　)ノ

Kitty: Wow! How did he get evidence?! I thought your dad was a teacher!

Kitty: Who changed my name  ( ` — ´ )

Broccoli: Dad’s got connections… Hey, Kitty is a cute name! I’m a vegetable that nobody likes ＼＼٩(๑`^´๑)۶／／

Kitty: Shhhh or I’ll change it to Bush baby like your brother told me to.

Broccoli: w(°ｏ°)w

Broccoli: ヽ(`⌒´メ)ノ

Broccoli: He’s so dead when I get home

Songbird: Sweetheart, focus. School. What.

Broccoli: I

He stopped typing as the door opened up, looking up to see his dad walking out with a smug grin.

Broccoli: Gotta go! ε=ε=ε=ε=┌(;￣▽￣)┘

“Everything ok dad?”

“Sure is”

For the rest of the week there was a stand in teacher and Kasui never came back to school. Izuku wasn’t sure if it was because he was pulled out of the school or if it was because he was embarrassed about looking like an angry bloated fish. The following week the stand in teacher was still running the class, but they announced that the new teacher would be starting the next day. He and Hitoshi shared a look, the other boy obviously wondering if the new teacher would be better than the last.

He leant back on his chair, whispering “You ok Hitoshi?”

The boy hummed “Have you ever heard of the saying out of the frying pan into the fire?”

“No but I’m good at cooking and I have a fire quirk… wanna come over after school for dinner?”

Hitoshi chuckled “Yeah sure”

After school, Izuku and Hitoshi met up with Haruto on the walk home, the three happily chatted away until they got past where Shinsou would normally turn off. Haruto stopped with a puzzled look.

“Oh I invited Hitoshi around for dinner! Its Katsudon night!” Izuku practically chirped, he was that happy. The other two laughed at his antics as they resumed walking.

“Dad won’t be home yet, he texted to say he had a meeting.”

Izuku shrugged, they could play Minecraft or something until his dad got home, he needed to let Haruto know to be ready to film Hitoshi’s reaction when he saw that their dad is his favourite hero.

Once the three of them entered the house and went upstairs, Haruto dashed up to his bedroom, Izuku flopped on the couch and Hitoshi introduced himself to Tuna. Seeing how his friend was distracted with the cat, he texted Haruto.

Izuku: Hey, Hitoshi’s favourite hero is Eraserhead!! I’ve not told him he’s our dad, can you film his reaction for me plllllleeeezzzz （人·ω·)

Haruto: Sure. Where’s Mic?

Izuku: Uhhhh  ( ﾟｰﾟ)  I think he’s still in the toilet down here

Haruto: Hmmm… might sneak up behind your friend with him later. Give him two heart attacks in one day.

Izuku: Nooo! Its his first time coming around, save it for the next visit  (ʃƪ¬‿¬)

Haruto: Give me extra dinner and you’ve got a deal!

Approximately forty five minutes later, the door opened downstairs and Izuku’s eyes widened comically. Next to him, Hitoshi didn’t notice but Haruto did, snorting a little laugh as he got up off the recliner, moving over and casually leaning against the kitchen island for a good view to record the reaction.

“Boys?” His dad called from downstairs as he took his shoes off.

“Hey dad!” Izuku paused the game and stood up, making sure he wasn’t in the way of the important documenting process “I invited Hitoshi around for dinner”

As the man rounded the top of the stairs, Hitoshi looked over his shoulder, immediately dropping his controller and standing bolt upright with a gasp.

“Yuh, y-y wh- I muhh hhhh” 

The boy ended his incoherent spluttering with a wheeze and turned his frantic eyes to Haruto who was firmly pressing his lips closed to hold in a laugh, cheeks puffed up, phone held up to record everything. 

“You must be Hitoshi Shinsou, to be honest I can’t believe we haven’t met yet” Aizawa talked casually as he walked further into the room “Izuku is…” he stopped, looking at the three boys, one by one “-always… going… on…. abou- ok what’s happening?”

By now, Hitoshi was furiously wiping his sweating hands on his pants, still half forming words, the boy looked at Izuku, eyes begging for help but the traitor just burst out laughing.

“Eraser… head” Hitoshi whispered looking back at the unimpressed adult “Favourite… my…”

Aizawa rolled his eyes “Haruto stop filming or you’re grounded, Izuku stop crying, it’s not that funny, go start dinner. Hitoshi, I’m honoured.” The man then wandered into the kitchen to start making a cup of coffee.

After a few minutes Hitoshi came to his senses and shuffled quickly to where Izuku was putting rice in the cooker. He smiled weakly at Aizawa as the man sauntered over to the recliner with his hot drink. Pushing up behind Izuku, hissing into his ear “Your dad is Eraser head! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!! What the fuck dude!”

Izuku turned to whisper back with a grin “Language” 

Hitoshi glared, pursing his lips.

“Ughhhhh I’m not allowed to tell people, you know he’s underground!” He pushed the other boy aside, opening the fridge to gather other ingredients “People aren’t meant to know who he is… I mean its not a mad secret its just… he likes to keep it on the ‘down low’” he air quotes

More hissing “You said he was a teacher!”

“I am a teacher” the man piped up from the living room “I teach heroics at UA.”

Hitoshi turned, scratching the back of his head, awkwardly laughing “Right, great, that’s great, so cool, yeah…” then he quickly turned back and started violently whispering again “I hate open plan kitchen living rooms! Izuku! Your dad is Eraserhead and a heroics teacher at U….A”

Izuku let out a little giggle. This was fun.

After that disaster of a first meeting, Hitoshi beamed whenever Izuku mentioned hanging out after school, he hoped that over time his friend would be less awestruck to the point of zombification… Then they could just hang out without Hitoshi talking gibberish or almost fainting.

The day the new teacher arrived, there was a mixture of apprehension and relief. The minute his dad walked through the door, the man was on him “Details. New teacher.” 

“Yeah it was ok I guess, she was… slightly better… not exactly as jerky-“

“Izuku”

“-as the last one. She’s kind of strict, that’s fine and all… but I feel like she’s been forewarned or something. The minute Shinsou steps out of line, its like he’s announced his intensions to rob a bank” he grumbled, pulling out his hair bobble and scratching his scalp “So yeah… but he didn’t get detention until mid-afternoon so I suppose its an improvement.”

“What happened?”

“Ah… well…”

(Flashback)

“I don’t want to be a person that judges a book by its cover… but the new teacher is getting a no from me” Izuku mumbled as he leant back towards Shinsou.

The boy slumped forward onto the desk, turning his head to the side “Yeah I bet her first name is Karen”

Izuku snorted a quiet laugh, pulling up the collar on his school jacket to hide 

“I bet she has a plaque on her living room wall that says ‘Live Laugh Love’ but she’s secretly homophobic”

Izuku spat as he laughed.

“You have something you’d wish to share with everyone else Aizawa?”

“I wouldn’t want to waste your time any further Ma’am, sorry about that” Izuku plastered his polite smile on.

She narrowed her eyes then turned back to the whiteboard to continue writing, calling out even as she faced away from the class “You’d do well not to distract him Shinsou! I’ve been told that Aizawa at least has prospects.”

The purple haired boy, with complete disregard for his well-being carried on his whispers “She’s going to want to talk to the manager soon. Maybe we can intervene with some discount Tupperware”

“Shinsou Hitoshi!” She snapped out as she turned sharply on her heel

———

“Sounds pretty deserving of detention to me, you two sound like problem children.”

“Hey! Miko and Aoi were chatting and gossiping all goddamn day-”

“Language”

“-Takahashi threw a paper airplane across the room and it stuck in her hair, he even owned up to it and she just commended his honesty! Toshi chats a bit, boom detention” Izuku huffed and went into the kitchen, reaching up into the top cupboard and pulling the 1kg tub of Nutella out. He then stomped over to the drawers and aggressively pulled out a spoon, gaving his dad a glare that screamed ‘just try and stop me’

So Aizawa just held his hands up in faux surrender and reclined “I’ll send a polite email to the headmaster, remind him that he needs to talk to ALL staff about their new anti-favouritism policies.”

Chapter Text

Summer and autumn skip by like a seed flitting on the breeze, the months passing delightfully undramatically. The only exceptions are specific anniversaries for the two boys. 

Izuku doesn’t know what date he managed to break free from his quirk, it was such a terrifying time that he was grateful to not know. But after talking with their dad about the date they met him, they manage to figure out a rough date for when the two boys met in the Todoroki gardens.

And on that date, their one year anniversary, they walk to the old industrial estate and soberly gaze upon the vacant plot of land where the condemned building used to stand. He’s pretty sure it hurts Izuku more, looking at his freckled little brother as that sweet face crumbles in pain. 

“I-I I’m glad we c-came” Izuku sobbed and sniffed, roughly rubbing his face with the sleeve of his jumper “and although it m-makes me app- ar- appreciate what we have now… I feel cold. I feel cold and empty.”

Haruto and Aizawa wrap the ten year old in a warm hug.

“I don’t think either of us will ever escape our past Izuku” he whispered “But we are strong. We survive together, remember?”

The little head pressed into his shoulder nodded and that day, Haruto decided to stop dying his hair black, stop trying to run from who he was.

After that, Christmas came and went blissfully stress free and before long, Haruto was celebrating his fifteenth birthday. After a trip for more piercings (he finally had all the ones he wanted, although he says he might want more when he’s older) and a family lunch, he went for dinner with his two best friends Fushiguro and Zenin.

Haruto had been spending more and more time with them outside of school, going shopping, eating out, loitering around on the streets like untrustworthy teenagers.  He finds that he has a strange ache in his chest when he thinks about Megumi in particular, not necessarily when he’s with him, it’s actually more when he’s not. He doesn’t want to sound like an idiot and go talk to anyone so he quietly simmers in confusion on his own. 

That decision changes though after a rather interesting interaction one night, when Megumi had come straight over after school. He, the other teen, Izuku and Hitoshi were all sat watching tv when a phone rang.

Fushiguro grumbled as he looked at the screen “What” he answered briskly.

Izuku and Hitoshi’s eyes widened, so Haruto leaned over and explained in hushed tones “Its probably his dad, I’ve heard them on the phone, it’s funny. He’s always cranky and from what I can hear, his dad is a real chirpy character.”

The three boys watched quietly, Hitoshi leaned over to Haruto with a cheeky grin and whispered “He’s even more of a moody teenager than you.”

Haruto sat bolt upright, mouth agape before hissing “You little shit!” Pulling out the cushion from behind the boy and hitting him in the face with it. “Respect” hit “Your” hit “Elders” hit “You” hit “Brat”

“I’ll save you Toshi!” Izuku bellowed, grabbing the laser pointer and flicking it around on the teen’s chest so Tuna went wild, scrambling to catch it.

In the chaos, they completely missed Fushiguro’s conversation, only remembering the other teen when he lobbed an empty soda can at Izuku’s head, then grabbed Tuna and dumped the cat on the recliner.

At that moment, Aizawa walked in and came straight up the stairs, honing in on the coffee machine as per usual after late meetings at UA.

“Boys” he nodded in greeting “Hope you’re all keeping out of trouble.”

“Yeah Mr Aizawa” Megumi stood to talk politely to the hero “my dad will be here in a minute. Is it ok if he comes up? He’s never met any of you before and he’s-” Fushiguro sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose “…Enthusiastic.”

“Sure”

About fifteen minutes later, Fushiguro dived off the couch to answer the door downstairs. Shouta payed no attention as he sipped the last couple of centimetres of coffee with an appreciative hum. The three boys though, have hands cupped to their ears in an attempt to hear as the teen downstairs, opens the door for his dad.

Despite their best efforts, they can’t really hear much over the sound of the television but decide to gossip anyway.

“I wonder what he’s like… He sounds kinda young on the phone, like Dad’s age”

Shouta looks at Haruto with a small smug smile, probably because he was just called ‘young’… all three roll their eyes before giving the stairs their undivided attention again, each turned and leaning on the back of the couch, sitting on their knees.

What they didn’t expect is for white spiked hair to appear… and a blindfold?

“A sight based quirk?” Izuku mumbled questioningly.

That made Shouta turn, Haruto noticing from the corner of his eye.

“Oh shit” the teen stood in slight panic, noticing the pure rage on his dad’s face.

“You” Aizawa snarls.

The white haired man smiled intensely “Oh heeeeey!! Its Eraserhead! Damn I’ve not-“

“Fuck off”

 “-seen you in years! Wow! Have you always lived around here?”

“Get out”

“I moved into the area with-“

“Not interested”

“-Megumi here just before Christmas a couple of years ago.”

The two boys look at each other, trying to work out what the hell is going on. Izuku and Hitoshi still sit on their knees, chins resting on the back of the couch, watching the unfriendly interaction with excitement.

Silence hangs in the air as Aizawa just stares at the man, as if responding will cause him personal pain.

“Soooo, you two know each other?” Haruto asks, looking from his dad (who is still glaring at the other man), to Megumi’s dad (who has a really dumb amused smile on his face) then finally at Megumi (who looks thoroughly unimpressed.)

“I’d say we do! Did a few missions together a few years ago… and stuff… You must be Haruto! I’ve heard sooo much about you-“ the white haired man steps over to the teen to shake his hand, behind him Megumi looks like he wants to die “Satoru Gojo! And hey, you’ve got white roots, been dying your hair to look like your old man huh? Looks like we picked up the wrong kids in the maternity ward huh Eraser!”

Megumi sighs, rubbing his face roughly has he dryly cuts in “You adopted me eight years ago you tool” 

Haruto shakes hands with the man, feeling awfully baffled by the whole scene. Gojo sucks in a breath, looks at Aizawa (who is still glaring) and grins again “We’ll have to catch up again some time Aizawa, I didn’t even know you had kids! And three of them!”

“I’m not his, I’m just friends with Izuku” Hitoshi nodded his head to the side at Izuku, who, cute as a button, waved from the couch.

“Anyway, we have to go right dad?” Fushiguro sends a glimmer of an apologetic look at Haruto before dragging his dad back towards the stairs.

“Great to meet you all” he says as he starts descending the stairs “And good to see you again Aizawa!”

His dad flops backwards onto the recliner, barely missing the cat who had re-staked his claim in the chaos, calling out “No it wasn’t!”

Everyone is quiet for about thirty seconds after the front door shuts, not surprisingly, it’s Izuku who breaks the silence.

“What’s his quirk? It’s got something to do with his eyes right? How can he see through the blindfold, is that part of his quirk? No that doesn’t make sense, is the blindfold to protect us or to protect his eyes, are they like yours? Do they get… dry… or… tired?- Dad?” Izuku slowed his words and fumbled to a stop as he saw his dad stare at the ceiling, stand up with a huff and start walking down the stairs.

“Dad?” Haruto tried too but just as he called out, Shouta’s bed room door slammed shut.

“That was super awkward…” Hitoshi ran his fingers through Izuku’s hair, the boy obviously looking a little worried. “Maybe they had a fight on the last mission they were on?”

“Gee you think?” Haruto scratched his cheek and set off towards the kitchen “Come on losers, let’s get some dinner.”

As he started pottering around with Izuku, cobbling together a meal of left overs from the previous couple of days he had an idea “I’ll ask Auntie Nem” ‘and I can kill two birds with one stone’.

He leaves things for the rest of the week, purposely not asking his dad about the other man, focusing his attention on filling out the paperwork to go to UA (and despite the recurring lecture about not putting all his eggs in one basket - something that confused the heck out of Izuku, he still only fills out the one application, literally pinning all his high school hopes on UA).

“I’m going out for lunch tomorrow with Auntie Nem” he says casually while writing out some hints on the entrance exams.

“No more piercings!” His dad snapped.

“I said I’m done! I promise, no more piercings until I finish high school, if ever. We’re just going to catch up-“ he notes his dad’s narrowed suspicious eyes “Uhhh and to talk about… umm… boys…. Or boy things” he sees the mild shock in his dad’s eyes “Not like things with me, I mean well it is- but I… uhhhh”

“So like, you’re thinking about- uhh sexuality.”

‘Awkward… I hate this… so lame’

When he doesn’t answer, eyes wide and glued to an incredibly interesting coffee mark on the coaster in front of him, his dad takes the hint and loudly proclaims that he’s going to do some laundry. Once the man is out of the room he smirks, purposely ignoring his own internal turmoil because it was at least half true and he really should talk to Nemuri about that but for now, he’s more interesting in unearthing the gossip surrounding this Gojo chap.

The next day, Haruto and Nemuri sit at their favourite noodle restaurant, chatting easily about anything and nothing until the food arrives and the woman’s eyes turn predatory.

“So Haruto, why’d you ask for lunch today? Its not that I don’t love it, but for us to come out - specifically just the two of us and for no piercings… I’m curious…”

The boy sits back with his hand on his chest, theatrically pretending to be saddened and stunned “Auntie Nem… I… am… devastated… that you think I don’t just want to hang out!”

“Oh cut the bull… you got some questions for me darling? Having urges when you see a certain somebody?” Her eyes sparkled mischievously.

Of course the teen sighs “I’ll get to that… but first… the boy who is occupying my thoughts… his dad came around last week and my dad went nuts at the guy, really didn’t like him, then once he was gone, went and sulked in his room”

“Ohhhh! That’s interesting” she purrs “what’s his name honey?”

He slurped up a bunch of noodles, chewing quickly and mumbling out with a mouth half full of food “Satoru Gojo”

Nemuri instantly started cackling wildly “Oh that’s golden. Oh my god I have to message Zashi” she gasped between laughs pulling her phone out of her bag. 

But Haruto snatched the device and pocketed it “No, answers first! Tell me!”

“Ahh yes yes ok. Gojo was on a team mission with Sho, the two didn’t get on that great, especially when the guy abandoned them to get this special mochi that’s only available in Sendai.” Haruto listens with rapt attention, still chowing down on his lunch as Nemuri continues “When he came back, he pretty much made more effort to protect his dessert than fighting the bad guys. Problem is, Gojo has a ridiculously overpowered quirk but just doesn’t care about things in the way that Sho does. If the guy had stepped in, they would have ended the fight quicker. No citizens were in danger though so Gojo kind of had the attitude of ‘you’ve got it covered, I’m going to eat my special mochi’. So as you can imagine, they clashed.” 

The woman took a moment to stuff in some food and sip her drink before continuing “They had a fight but ended up fucking.”

Haruto spat out his drink, violently coughing all over the table, thrashing around to get a serviette “Gross” more coughing “I don’t want to know about-“

Nemuri, completely oblivious to the teen’s horror just kept going “I think it was hate fucking to be honest, well at least for Sho. Gojo seemed to have a real sparkle in his eye… although I think he’s just like that when his blindfold is off.”

Haruto was alternating between coughing, rasping and chugging his drink “No more details! I’m begging!”

“Well the interesting thing is that you have a crush on Gojo’s son! Even if you’re still trying to figure out what those butterflies and wet dreams are all about. And Sho probably already knows but doesn’t want to talk about ‘feelings’ or whatever and now he has to deal with the idea that you’re eventually going to go hard on Gojo’s son’s ass.”

The coughing fit returned “Stop. Trying. To. Kill. Me!”

“Oh sorry! Do you think you’ll be more of a taker? And by that I mean a bottom, not a top. Oh we should actually talk about gay sex, preparation is so important!”

At this point, Haruto stumbled out of his seat and ran into the bathrooms, to both escape the embarrassment and to wash his spit and noodle covered face.

After that, Haruto put in extra effort to push Nemuri's riveting conversation to the back of his mind. He also made special effort to not mention the white haired hero when around his dad. Of course when he and Megumi ended up walking home the next day after school (Haruto desperately trying not to blush whenever snippets of Nemuri’s chat popped back into his head), the other teen finally quizzed him for info and the two had an awkward yet hilarious conversation about their dads. Then when they met Izuku on the way, the young boy asked Megumi a ridiculous amount of question’s about Gojo’s quirk, effectively removing any need to bring up the man in front of their dad.

Barely a week later, it was time for the entrance exams for UA and while the situation with Megumi’s dad had faded into the background, the situation with getting goddamn butterflies and now, the occasional semi-on whenever he saw the sulky teen had not. In fact, despite (or maybe because of) the nerves with the entrance exam, it’s even worse as they step into the building to take the written part.

Haruto focuses his attention on the papers in front of him, flying through the tests thanks to his extensive studying. That then leaves him with the problem of sitting there, waiting for the allotted time to finish, without being able to look at Fushiguro who is sitting on the desk to his right. When the time is up he all but runs out of the room, dashing to the toilet and washing his face.

“I didn’t think it was too bad, I guess it pays to have a dad that works at UA though huh? I saw you finished early, you were giving the clock at the front of the room death stares.”

The teen scoffed at his friend but when he looked up and their eyes met, those long eyelashes were there to taunt him, highlighting the deep blue colour that he has dreamt of for so long now. Perhaps he stares a little different or maybe slightly too long because he notices that those eyes twitch just a little, then widen ever so slightly. It makes Haruto panic, his heart thunders in his chest and with a cough he quickly looks away, hiding his freshly flushed cheeks.

“Uh yeah… come on lets grab a bite then head to the practical exam announcements” 

“Right” Megumi shoves his hands in his pockets and skips the first step or two to catch up to Haruto.

From that point on, the two are a little awkward with each other. He doesn’t understand and it hurts his chest a little so once again, he pours his focus into the upcoming exam. The two whisper about the robots and different zones as Present Mic excitedly addresses the room, finally waving goodbye and promising to meet at the end.

The exam, for someone with extensive defensive skills (say for jumping out of the way of things) and an extremely hot fire quirk, is a walk in the park. The freedom to move around and do as he pleases is intensely satisfying. Haruto hopped across rooftops, jumping onto robots and melting their heads with sadistic glee. At one point he runs past a smaller side street and see’s a girl who looks a little out of her element and he swears he hears Izuku’s squeaky little voice prattling on about saving people to win the exam in his head, so he goes in to help (trying not to steal her points because he’s a good guy like that, he doesn’t care about being the best today).

He’s at the other end of the arena, trying to cool down when a ridiculous rumbling starts off and everyone flees like rats “Nezu, what the fuck?!” He yells from his rooftop view point, watching the zero pointer destroying everything in its path “How much money do you waste on this exam? This is a ridiculous display of wealth and power.” 

The teen stood there, watching with his arms crossed, irritated by how irrational the exam is, continuing to talk to nobody “What if someone had the strongest mental quirk out there, like Professor X, he’d do real well wouldn’t he huh Nezu?”

By the end of the exam he pointedly ignores everyone and walks directly to the exit, immediately going to look for Megumi and his dad.

“Seriously though, it was massive, I wonder if anyone has ever taken it down” 

The two teens stand in the hallway near the staff room where Aizawa had told them he would be ‘a few minutes’… ten minutes ago. Everyone that had taken the exam had left so the corridors were cold and echoey. Thankfully, any lingering weirdness from the morning had disappeared, meaning the two got back to their usual candour. They missed the distant footsteps approaching while they discussed which animals Megumi used in the exam.

“Touya?”

Haruto froze, pain and anxiety flooded his body in an instant. Despite not hearing the voice in years, he recognised immediately. Beside him, Megumi noticed the intense stress on his best friend’s face and quickly stepped into the staff room to go grab Aizawa. 

“It… its you isn’t it, I can see the white in your hair… Touya, please”

Very slowly he turned, even though his mind desperately didn’t want him to, as if his body was on auto pilot. His breathing was short and shallow but becoming more and more panicked. When he finally looked up and saw Fuyumi, looking at him with pleading eyes, Natsuo to her right looked overjoyed to see him and just behind them, Shouto… looking shocked. The youngest Todoroki stepped forward just a touch to add “it was you that saved us wasn’t it? Saved me?”

He feels himself breaking, conflicting emotions and memories battling for dominance and a little voice snarling at the back of his mind reminding him that it was Shouto who was chosen, Shouto who was the golden boy, Shouto that stole the attention, Shouto wh-

“Haruto” 

His dad’s voice sliced through the pain, soothing his panicked aching chest and opening his throat so he breathe. He quickly pushed himself into waiting arms, squashing his face into his dad’s shoulder so he can turn away from them fully.

“He’s not ready for this.” From his position, pressed firmly into his dad’s chest, Aizawa’s voice is deep and rumbling, covering him like a warm blanket on a cold winters night “Please don’t approach him again, its not fair after all he’s been through. We will contact you when the time is right.”

He doesn’t emerge from the embrace until the three footsteps have completely vanished, rubbing his face and having a sip of drink from his dad.

“I uhhh… I’ll message you later ok?” Megumi places a soft hand on his shoulder “You’re going to be ok right?”

His voice croaks as he says yeah, nodding and looking at the floor, desperate to avoid having to explain right now, desperate not to see those beautiful eyes when he’s hurting so bad.

Once the other teen disappears down the corridor, his dad speak softly “I’m sorry, I knew they lived on campus but I was told they weren’t allowed to wander around the halls when there were other students around… I’m so sorry.”

His dad doesn’t deserve to feel bad, its not his fault and hearing the man sound so remorseful and sad just breaks him even more, leaving him a sobbing devastated mess, crying with shuddered gasps as he reaches for more cuddles.

“Do you want me to message Mic to keep Izuku for the night, then it can be just you and me, we can get dinner and watch a movie, relax and hug Tuna on the couch?”

He doesn’t want to keep away from Izuku but he needs the peace right now so he sniffs and nods, letting his dad wipe away his tears.

Later that night, snuggling up to Shouta with a full tummy and arms full of cat, he opens up about the surprise meeting, pouring his heart out about the panic. How he worried what they would think of him for never coming home, worried that they would hate him, all the while being frightened that they would try take him away from Shouta, away from his brother because by now they weren’t his siblings, they were Touya’s and once again, he growled out that Touya is dead. And finally, he talked about the anger that they let their mum be pushed to that point, didn’t stand up and do something (even though he knows what Enji is like, knows the far reaching influences the man has, so going to the police would probably fail and just bring more pain). 

And of course, he spoke about the hate that was misdirected at Shouto.

“I’m just not ready, like you said. Honestly… I feel maybe like I would end up going insane, maybe violently insane, I’m tearing up on the inside… And UA isn’t safe for me anymore!” He grabs his t shirt at his chest, scrunching it up with a fisted hand “How can I go to school there, how can I go see Hound Dog with the chance that I might bump into them. What if I see Shouto when I’m already upset and I try… I- I try…”

Shouta pulls him in firmly, hugging him like their lives depend upon it “One day you will overcome this. I promise. Just like you and Izuku said, you survive. And I’ll make sure they keep out of the UA buildings, none of them should be in there right now. If your sister decides to study at UA, its not for another year. Its going to be ok, I promise… you’re not a bad person son, you’ve been through a lot of trauma. And it’s not fair but you’re strong and things will get better.”

Haruto sniffs and breathes hoarsely, the emotional upheaval making him tired and weary but before he can drift away to a peaceful slumber in his dad’s arms a thought pops into his head. 

“Can I tell Fushi? Everything I mean” he daren’t look up, too afraid he’ll see disappointment in the steely grey eyes of his dad.

“If you think you can trust him then sure… I know he means a lot to you and you’re close…maybe just ask him not to tell his dad though”

So that weekend, Shouta (rather unhappily) calls Gojo and offers for Megumi to have a sleepover, under the guise of celebrating the entrance exams, very quickly hanging up once the man agrees. 

When Megumi comes, Shouta orders pizza’s so they can go straight upstairs, put a movie on his laptop and talk in peace (“With the door open”).

He struggles to open up to start with but gradually he feels like something changes between them, touches linger slightly longer than before and once he finishes pouring his heart out, the other boy is sitting closer than usual.

“I can see why you hate heroics so much now. If I see Endeavor or have to work with him, I think I’ll set my dogs on him”

“Noooo don’t sully your sweet pups with that vile pig” Haruto whines, a little grin teasing the corner of his mouth. When he sees Megumi staring at that smile, he gets an ache deep in the pit of his stomach and when the teen’s tongue slips out to quickly wet his lips, that ache floods deeper making him shift a little, trying to find relief from god knows what.

The banging of the front door downstairs snaps them both out of their intense gazing and with Izuku dashing up the stairs, the two scramble to sit further apart because they had subconsciously started moving towards each other.

“Haruto!!! Haruto!!! I turned into a Hummingbird today!!” Izuku is screeching as he steams up the stairs, slamming into his bedroom so hard the door bangs into the wall (making Aizawa start yelling from downstairs) “Oh hey Fushi! Wanna see! I didn’t even realise I could, I think I saw one on my birthday! That was AAAAAAGES ago…”

Izuku continues his endless excited babble and the two boys engage happily with the ten year old, only occasionally sneaking a heated glance towards each other.

Chapter Text

Shouta wandered down the almost empty halls of UA, the odd student here and there frantically scrambling to get to the first class of the new year on time. He shrugged his shoulders, the yellow sleeping bag slung there, slipping just a little.

When he got to the almost closed door of class 1-A, he could hear the wild excitable chatter on the other side and braced himself for an exhausting day. He’d spent time nagging and bartering with Vlad King on which students were to be in 1-A (vs 1-B) so standing there at the door, he knew what he was in for and it wasn’t really that bad… perhaps he was just mentally preparing himself to have to see even more of the embarrassing pining between his son and Fushiguro. It was his own fault for asking them to both be in the same class but he decided that the misery that Haruto would put out from splitting them up would be even more intolerable.

With a deep breath, he slowly slipped into his sleeping bag and quietly shuffled through the door, slumping along the wall and sitting on the floor. As per usual, the class carried on chatting, none of them noticing… except Haruto who instantly stopped talking and bit his lip to hide his amused smile. Barely a split second later, probably after seeing the other teen react, Fushiguro stopped talking from his seat behind.

Also as per usual, someone screamed when they saw him.

He didn’t expect to be called a “witchetti grub”… caterpillar yes, lumpy banana… ok… but this one was new.

Slowly he sat up and crawled out of his sleeping bag and readied himself for his age old trusty introduction “My name is Shouta Aizawa, I am your homeroom teacher. You kids took far too long to notice me, only one person in the class immediately noticed and he knows who I am so he would have been in trouble if he didn’t. You’re not thinking rationally enough, time is precious.”

A few minutes later the students were scampering towards the locker rooms to change for his usual quirk field tests, he was quietly curious as to how it would go, curious about how many students would be permanently transferring or heading home by the end of it. Aside from each student’s name, quirk, date of quirk registry (a new addition since learning how late Izuku got his quirk), entrance exam scores and middle school name, he knew nothing about them. Of course there were letters from each school describing the students, notes regarding their temperament, letters of recommendation and all other things that could alter a first impression but he needed to make up his own mind. 

He passed by the staff room on his way towards the fields outside, stopping when Nezu called his name and peeked through the door.

“Before you ask, yes I am doing my usual testing, no we are not attending the ceremony, yes I will pause and consider all possibilities before I expel someone” he sighed as he continued in his dull monotonous tone “yes I will try to be thoughtful as I destroy their dreams.” 

Nezu chuckled, rubbing his hands together “Yes yes very good, but that’s not what I called you for… The hero commission called this morning, a representative is coming this afternoon… insisting on a visit to talk about a desired amendment to the course”

Shouta narrowed his eyes “right… and you want me there”

“Yes, it directly impacts 1-A specifically”

His eyes narrowed again “Haruto”

“I’m afraid so, they would have seen which class he was enrolled in when the registration papers for the new school year went in. I believe they are very interesting in keeping tabs on the young man.”

He didn’t bother responding to that, simply growling and continuing on his way. An ugly anger began to pulse through him at the thought of the hero commission taking an interest in his son. As he neared the corner he heard Nezu call out that he would see him at 2pm, waving in response as he went. Exactly how the commission would be intervening was making him irritable, something that wouldn’t fare well for this upcoming quirk test.

‘Keep it controlled and cool Shouta. No need to take your rage out on some snot nosed kids’

“Stop whining about missing pointless ceremonies, take this seriously and note that I greatly enjoy crushing pathetic jocks with no viable future in heroics.”

‘Very cool and collected’

He looked at the group of 20 students in front of him, one boy looked furious, at least three students looked terrified, one girl was trying not to cry, Fushiguro looked disinterested, Haruto was barely containing a sadistic grin - not too dissimilar to his own. 

“Now, before we get started, I’ll inform you now that two students in this class are working towards becoming Heroic Support, they will have specialised classes on Mondays and Tuesdays for strategies and Thursdays for first aid training while you have your normal hero classes. Other than that they are doing everything the same academically, their testing will be slightly different too. After graduation you might end up working with them so do not treat them any differently.” After waiting a moment for the soft whispering to die down, he pulled a ball and testing device out of the basket by his feet “Akihiro Suji, you scored highest on the entrance exam, come up and stand in the circle.”

The stocky built boy visibly gulped, running a sweaty hand through his short but floppy silver locks “Yes Sensei” 

As the teen arrived in front of him, he tossed him the ball “What was your furthest throw in middle school?”

“60m Sensei”

‘Hes polite and calm, albeit a little anxious. I like him, he can stay.’

“Right, throw it but use all tools at your disposal, just make sure you stay inside the ring” he gently waved the little device in front of him to help the kid understand.

“T-tools…” the boy looked down at his hands, not so subtly patting down his gym uniform

“He means your quirk you idiot” a black haired teen scoffed, rolling his eyes.

‘Oh hello’

“Wait….” Shouta pointed at the arrogant boy “What’s your name?”

“Osamu Taiho” the boy crossed his arms cockily, a hint of a smirk curling his lip.

“Exactly why did you think you could insult another student, who had just been put on the spot in front of the entire class… specifically after I just said I expel students for less”

That teensy smirk disappeared, a hint of pale grey brushing over the boy’s skin tone “Um sorry Sensei…” when Shouta looked over to the boy standing in the circle, then looked back again, Taiho tensed “Sorry uhhh I can’t remember your name”

Shouta was enjoying this far too much, he tutted loud and purposely “Insulting students AND not paying attention…. Do better Taiho, now… Suji, continue please”

Stepping back he briefly made eye contact with his son who seemed to be enjoying this jock crushing session just as much as him, once in position he watched as the teen suddenly became almost skeletal in build except for his right arm that bulked to All Might proportions. Gosh Izuku would have loved this, he could only hope that when he came to UA, the class was full of just as many exciting quirks as this.

“934m, well done Suji, now everyone try your best as we go through the tests… go plus ultra”

At lunch time he headed into the cafeteria, spotting his son on the other side. As expected the teen was sitting against the far wall with Fushiguro, chatting quietly while eating noodles but what he wasn’t exactly expecting was two other classmates, Suji and a shy, pale blue haired girl called Nyoko Hoseki (who’s quirk allowed her to transform body parts into different gemstones) to be sitting with them. 

The four were chatting, occasionally a hint of a smile would light up Haruto’s face as Fushiguro and Suji led the conversations. The more he looked, the more details he picked out, like how close Haruto and his moody friend were sitting, how they would both gravitate towards touching each other just a little more than normal, how occasionally their feet brushed together, even looped around each other despite being sat side by side. His eyes narrowed… ‘Playing footsie? I wonder how long it will take for them to advance to something more than friendship…’

He briefly weighed up the pros and cons of heading over to them but ultimately deciding that being nosy with the added bonus of slightly embarrassing his son won the battle.

“Haruto, I have a meeting with Nezu at 2pm, I’m not sure how long it’ll take so if you want to head home with Fushiguro you can” his eyes sparkled a little as he saw the teen purse his lips.

After a brief pause, he huffed “Fine dad, I’ll see you later”

The two new students gasped simultaneously shouting “He’s your dad!!” “DAD?!” 

With his smirk hidden in his scarf he turned to leave, greeting Maki (who was in the support course) as she arrived at the table.

“How many did you expel Mr Aizawa? Fushi and I had been discussing it this morning on the way in” the girl placed her tray on the table, shunting Haruto to the side with her hip

He rolled his eyes “… two… and no more gambling on me.”

As he walked away, he heard slight uproar on the table but the kids seemed in good spirits. He soaked it in because he felt sure that whatever happened in this upcoming meeting, any pleasant mood he had would probably dissipate.

“Ah Mr Aizawa, glad you could make it, please have a seat!” Nezu smiled brightly as he carried his teacup back to the table “Glad to see you bought a coffee, as always I’m offering tea but I know that’s not to your taste”

Sitting bolt upright across from his desk was a very straight laced woman, hair slicked back into a thin sharp looking ponytail, her suit was a very dark grey pinstripe with a white shirt buttoned to the very top and lilac coloured high heels that matched the little round globe shaped earrings she wore. Overall she looked 100% business.

“Lets skip with the pleasantries, we at the hero commission have a keen interest in Touya Todoroki-“

“That’s not his name” Aizawa snarled “If you can’t even be bothered to get that right you c-“

“Yes yes, very sorry” she cut him off with a dismissive but smarmy tone, waving her hand as if his theatrics were of little concern “Haruto Aizawa, the son of Endeavor-“ she paused briefly as he literally growled “was listed as going into Heroic Support rather than Heroics-“

“Its his choice! Maybe he was worried about following the career route supported by a government that is more concerned with popularity than doing the job right, say protecting people and not beating their families perhaps”

The woman slung her head back as she sighed loudly, lifting her head she gave a downright murderous glare at Shouta before turning to Nezu “Are you going to allow this barking guard dog to keep interrupting this? Because I have places to be.”

“Mr Aizawa” Nezu put up a placating hand “Please, lets just ignore whatever heinous inaccuracies this person has and get through the meeting, we can go over grievances at the end”

‘…Traitor’

Despite every bone in his body wanting to actually murder the woman by strangulation, he gave a curt nod and slumped back.

“So Haruto chose Heroic Support and we within the HPSC are happy to accept that, especially if he were to eventually decide to work with his father-“ Shouta tensed, desperate to burst out but meeting Nezu’s beady little eyes made him understand the need to let the asshole carry on “perhaps during internships? Either way, to facilitate his development we are sending you our very own budding hero, by way of a joint agreement, just for this first year of course. The teen has been raised from a young age by the commission to work not only in daylight heroics but also in some underground capacity, infiltration if you will. It would benefit us both having him come to occasionally work with To- Haruto, Keigo Takami would get valuable experience interacting with his peers in a new challenging environment, while Haruto would get experience working with a hero of a different calibre.”

“That seems acceptable to me, we would be quite interested to see what he has been learning as a HPSC student while I’m sure he is excited to see what its like to learn at the top hero school in the country.” said Nezu with his usual cheery candour.

The representative glared a little but nodded “Of course… we will send him at the start of next week. I’m sure your usual USJ rescue scenarios can be pushed out until a couple of days after he arrives”

Shouta struggled to contain a growl, quirk flickering just a touch “Let me know details of his academics, quirk, behavioural responses etc… I need to go tend to my children” 

Forty minutes later, he dragged his feet through the front door. He just sincerely hoped this Takami guy isn’t an asshole, by tonight he should have details about the guy… or kid? Haruto has been through enough, he needs stability now so he can keep moving forward, making progress with his emotional wellbeing.

After taking off his shoes he was met with Izuku’s adorable giggling from upstairs, with a cosy warmth filling his chest, he started slowly making his way up the steps.

“DAD!!” 

Just as he made his way around the top step, the littlest Aizawa collided with his chest, hugging him firmly “I had a great day at school! We have a new teacher!! His name is Mr Yoi and he’s literally the nicest, most positive guy - that’s his quirk! He has boundless positive energy!”

“I can’t imagine he’d be all that popular at funerals” Haruto mumbled from his position on the recliner, Tuna laid across his face.

“Shurrup you!!” Izuku wiggled a finger towards the teen “He said Toshi would make a great invetsg- in- investigative hero!”

Ah there was that warmth again. Shouta smiled softly at his son “That’s great kid.” 

After making a coffee he went over to his recliner (shhh yes its his) and gently but repetitively nudged the teen laying there until he moved, he asked if anyone minded having takeout for dinner.

“What’s wrong dad? Was it the meeting?” Haruto frowned a little before cheekily adding “I’m sure your new class wasn’t that bad? It had me in it!”  

Izuku laughed, jigging around a little, excitedly bouncing… maybe a little too excited… 

“HARUTO’S GOT A DATE!” The kid blurted out, rapidly covering his mouth with both hands.

‘Oh I see’

“ITS NOT A DATE! ITS JUST DINNER!” Haruto screeched, stomping towards the stairs, stopping only to rake a thumb across his throat - very much aimed at Izuku.

“Hey no death threats!” Despite how funny it was, he still had to be the responsible adult… “So… you and Fushi huh?” teasing your children was 100% part of being a parent.

Haruto made some kind of unintelligent angry groaning mumble before storming off upstairs.

Izuku was vibrating at this point, leaning forward to whisper “Fushi asked to meet up at dinner, ‘ruto was blushing when he told me so I put two and two together and made ‘date’”

“Very good son.” 

With that Izuku smiled and went back to typing in a group chat with his friends, leaning over he mostly just saw an excessive amount of emojis and kaomojis so he left him to it and opened his own group chat.

Tiredcat: Fushiguro has asked Haruto to “dinner”

Noisycat: **Squeals**

Sluttycat: Oh wow! This is very exciting!! First its dinner, then out to a cinema, then its a raunchy rendezvous in the toilets of a dirty bar.

Shouta looked up from his phone, mixed emotions gracing his face. ‘Raunchy rendezvous in the toilets? He’s fifteen!! But at the same time… dinner out with a friend he has a crush on… and he’s fifteen…’

When he looked down, the group chat had continued in his absence.

Sluttycat: I’m not sure I agree with my name, I’m not slutty.

Noisycat: Sure, I’m not noisy either then

Sluttycat: The name implies I am promiscuous. Although I am sexually indiscriminate, I won’t just engage in relations with just anyone, I have some class.

Noisycat: Native?

Sluttycat: I was… in a difficult place

Noisycat: In the alley behind Zero to Hero

Sluttycat: Exactly why I hate that bar

Shouta sighed

Tiredcat: I need reconnaissance. Stop gibbering and help.

Noisycat: Time? Location?

He sat up “Izuku, what are the deets on Haruto’s date?”

Izuku looked up from his phone with a little giggle “6:30pm at Numerous Noodles”

He messaged out the details and went upstairs to gently poke information from the teenage bear.

At 6:40pm the first text came through.

Bang: They’re sitting opposite each other but leaning in close, lots of intensive staring into each other’s soul. 

6:44pm

Bang: Damn I’ve been spotted. Time to go. Fushiguro was blushing as I took off though.

7:04pm

Hizashi: I just entered to “collect takeaway”. My disguise is flawless.

Hizashi: Footsie is happening, Haruto is grinning like a possessed man.

Hizashi: Oooh they have Kabayaki here

Shouta: Focus. 

Hizashi: They’re sharing food!

Hizashi: Haruto is staring at me… I think its because I squeaked… I’m bailing.

7:22pm

Haruto: Stop sending spies dad. I just had to tell Auntie Nem to leave, she came in dressed like…

Haruto: I can’t even explain. But just… no.

Haruto: Anyway, stop, its just dinner. We’re talking about class!

“Ah… well that’s nice… real… nice.” Shouta grumbled, his fist curled up under his jaw as he slumped forward, leaning on it heavily “At least it seems like he’s having a nice night. A nice, platonically friendly night.”

Almost an hour later, a sulky looking Haruto comes in, stomping towards the couch “Why?!”

“I just wanted to make sure you were having a good time, being uhhh safe. And making sure Gojo’s kid isn’t like his dad!” He jutted his chin out defensively, because yeah, he was just looking out for his son!

Haruto rolled his eyes, a softer than expected look on his face. Before he could comment anymore, Izuku barrelled down the stairs “HOW WAS YOUR DATE!?!”

Haruto recoiled agast “IT WASN’T A DATE!” 

Monday morning, the start of week two for class 1-A rolled around quickly. As Shouta ambled along the halls of UA he saw something flit by… a red feather. Having read the files sent by the hero commission, he knew immediately what this meant.

Keigo Takami was waiting for him in the staff room ahead.

Chapter Text

Haruto listened as Fushiguro laughed about the evening before, apparently the teen’s dad had irritated a commission executive with his cocky but chirpy behaviour, completely ignored the rules during a mission and caused a bunch of chaos. Normally Megumi found his dad infuriating but in this instance, he was quite pleased with his antics as he was still reeling with the revelations regarding the Todoroki’s and the secrecy from the commission.

As the boy chuckled, eyes crinkling a little, Haruto lost himself in those delicious pools that sunk into his soul-

The door the class 1-A slammed open loudly, making more than half the class jump out of their skins. His dad walked in, considerably angrier than he was that morning when they left the house.

“Uhhh… this can’t be good right?” Muttered Fushiguro from behind him. He leant back in his chair to answer but his dad glared and he snapped his mouth shut, fingers coming down to grip the edge of the table.

“Class… we have a… special student who will be working with us a few days a week, specifically with our Heroic Support students” Aizawa nodded towards him and Fushi… the act only added to his anxiety. “He’s being trained personally by the hero commission-“

‘Ah there it is. That’s why dad is livid. Fucking commission sticking their noses in’

“-but he’s a student just like any of you and if he steps out of line or makes anyone feel uncomfortable-“ Aizawa’s eyes specifically meet his “Then let me know and I won’t hesitate to kick them out.”

Whispers danced through the room, people chattering and staring at him, most wondering if it was a normal thing for the Heroic Support students, some wondering if it was special treatment since everyone knew that his dad was the teacher.

“Come in…” Aizawa looked back at the empty open doorway “Introduce yourself or whatever”

Haruto looked at the door, then to his dad who slunk back with an irritated impatient look on his face. When he looked back at the door, a flurry of red feathers swept into the room, flying around like they were caught in some swirling tornado, all except for two feathers that flew around him, slowing to stroke his cheek. ‘What the fuck’

Then just as quickly as it began, it stopped, the feathers flying back towards the door where a grinning blonde teen waited. He was dressed in beige baggy trousers, a skin tight black top with thin gold markings and a beige fur lined jacket, Haruto took him in with suspicion, his hair was a little shaggy, darker blonde than any of his other classmates, making him think of warm sandy beaches. He didn’t look like a commission goon, more like a typical teen if his lazy grin was anything to go by.

“My name is Keigo Takami” he called out as the feathers flitted into place, creating a pair of magnificent, fire-truck red wings “My quirk is called fierce wings”. Haruto briefly meets a golden eyes and a small traitorous gasp leaves his lips because shit, he should probably hate the guy… but also, his eyes are stunning, there are little black accents near the corners and it almost looks like he has winged eyeliner (Auntie Nem and her amusing makeup lessons springing to mind) so yeah, Haruto’s weakness is beautiful eyes and those are… smirking? Behind him, he hears the softest of growls and suddenly his mind is alight with theories.

“You’re a spy” he blurts out and suddenly those pretty eyes lock with his, intense and firey. It’s such a stark change from the previous laid back aura that anxiety lights up in his chest. 

Takami softened immediately after though, laughing heartily “Wow someone is fond of conspiracy theories!” He then fucking winked at Haruto “I’m happy to be taking part in the usual HPSC UA collaboration and working with your Heroic Support students! And two students with Hero parents no less, I’m sure everyone is expecting great things from you guys, I can’t wait!”

A quiet chatter fills the room, behind him, he hears Fushiguro muttering what sounds like ‘Flashy commission dog’ and he kind of has to agree… he’s done everything possible to wind up Megumi so far, but surely he wouldn’t know that… unless… Haruto wonders if maybe that’s the point… but for what gain? Was it because of Gojo? And his antics? How many times had he pushed the commission, completely disregarded their orders in favour of his own way of doing things, had he finally gone too far and they were taking it out on Megumi instead?

“Alright, very enthusiastic, sit down” Aizawa pushed back into standing at the front of the class “We’ll go through the usual homeroom, then Takami, Fushiguro and Aizawa will go to the gym to go through their altered curriculum - starting today with a discussion about the strengths and weaknesses in each others quirks… the rest of you will go about your day.”

Haruto sat forward, clasping his hands together under his chin, leaning on his elbows, feigning a look of disinterest… but with narrowed eyes, he peeked a glance to the door where the blonde was leaning against the doorframe with a serious expression. When their eyes met (again) though, a tiny grin curled up Takami’s lip and he hastily looked back towards his dad.

‘Oh fuck he’s kind of hot’

“Takami, you might as well head straight to the gym, you don’t need to be here for this”

“Whatever you say Eraser-“

“Its Aizawa Sensei when you’re here, or just Sensei… you are here to learn after all”

The chilled teen sighed and that tiny grin disappeared as Takami grunted and shoved off the doorframe, slinking out of the room.

‘Ah dad… honestly, you’re the best’

After roll call and announcements were finished, Haruto waited for the rest of the students to file out then grabbed his bag and stood up with a sigh. When he turned to talk to his best friend, he flinched reflexively as the other teen quickly placed a hand over his mouth. Obviously he frowned in confusion.

Megumi shifted his eyes from their locked gaze to look at his shoulder, before reaching up and pulling a bright red feather from under his collar. When he lifted the feather up between them, he pulled the hand off his mouth and pressed a ‘shushing’ finger to his own lips and turned to wave the feather at Haruto’s dad.

“Well done Fushiguro, I’ll take that… you two, check over your things then head to the gym.”

A few minutes later, after handing over another feather, the two boys were walking the long way to the gym. Haruto felt unease bubbling in his gut, because by his side, his best friend was quiet. On any normal day that might be a normal occurrence but today that silence felt deafening. What the hell is that wings guy all about anyway, why did he put feathers on them, can he hear through the feathers-

“Stop frowning like that, you’ll give yourself a headache” Megumi shouldered into him, his voice was stern but had a hint of softness about it.

“Do you think he’s here because of me or your dad?” 

Megumi gave him a side glance, never slowing his pace “I don’t know… we should be careful though”

Haruto nodded in agreement “Well he is a commission student… I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him with broken arms.”

Entering the gym they saw their new HPSC buddy flying around the room, darting at phenomenal speeds. The blonde looked down and sent him a little wave, he wasn’t sure but he felt like it was directed at him alone, beside him he felt Fushiguro slump. 

But he shook it off and continued to watch the aerial display, unable to stop the small smile blooming on his face. “Izuku would love this” he said with a soft sigh.

“That’s your brother right?” Takami called out as he rushed forwards in a quick glide “I read about him in your file, turns into butterflies and birds made of fire. I’d love to meet him, we could fly together!”

The bird boy landed gracefully in front of them both but it was clear his attention was solely focussed on Haruto as he continued with a playful grin “Maybe he can come here after school and the two of us could train together, while big brother shoots fireballs at us. We could spend some quality time together, maybe even hang out after little bro goes to bed” he finished with a flirty wink.

He could feel the visceral rage pouring out of Fushiguro next to him, the black haired teen was practically shaking which was slightly fascinating given that 90% of the time he’s so nonchalant. 

“Why don’t we just get on with what we are supposed to be doing…” Megumi snapped “I think we have a pretty good idea of what your quirk is, given you’ve been flaunting it in our faces” while talking, the teen had been secretly moving his fingers, rhythmically forming the patterns required to summon his shadow creatures. 

Either Takami noticed or picked up on the impending attack with his instincts because he dipped out of the way of sharp electrified claws diving to grab. The teen laughed cheerfully, shooting back with a swift flap of his wings, dodging another attack from the giant owl, then spinning out of the way of the massive snake that shot out of the ground.

Before things got out of hand, the animals disappeared, fading back into the shadows, Takami landing with a frown. 

Behind them Aizawa stood, quirk activated, irritated expression on his face.

“Although I appreciate the enthusiasm Fushiguro, fighting with such intensity without a teacher here is illogical. If someone had been hurt… if Takami had taken one of his katana’s to your shadow animals…-”

‘Katanas? Shit I bet he doesn’t even know that if Megumi’s shadow animals are killed then they’re gone for good. This could have been a total disaster.’

“-Lets actually talk about quirks… like you were supposed to.”

Fushiguro crossed his arms with a humph.

“I’ll go fi-“

Aizawa cut off Takami, “I think it would be beneficial for the UA students to show you their abilities, since you already showed off quite a bit already”

The blonde laughed, pushing his hand through his tousled waves “Yeah well I’ve got to make an entrance somehow, first impressions and all” he shrugged then looked at Haruto “How about hot stuff shows us his talents?”

The way he said it, dropping his voice a little lower, quirking a brow suggestively… honestly it made him want to set himself on fire and hide as a pile of ash on the floor because to his left was his fucking dad and to his right was his… best friend? Crush? 

Disgruntled noises came from either side of him, Fushi looking feral (again) and his dad looking positively murderous “You are aware that he’s my son right?”

Now he’s really not sure what’s going on because is the blonde just oblivious to social cues? Does he have a death wish? Because he waves his hand dismissively “Oh sure Sensei” then looks him dead in the eye and continues “so hot stuff, you going to set fire to your competition? Come out as top Heroic Support student for UA?”

His dad huffs, pointing at Fushiguro “Show us the different animals you can summon, their manoeuvrability and weaknesses. Then Takami, you tell us how he can be an asset to a hero, such as yourself, in the role of Heroic Support.”

The next hour continued as such, each going through a round of showing the tools at their disposal, then discussing rescue adaptations, defensive strategies to employ while giving first aid etc. But one thing remained constant, Takami was flirting with Haruto… intensely. Constant winking, sexually charged comments, casual touching and lots of compliments - all aimed at him, never at Fushiguro who became increasingly agitated throughout the session. 

While the winged student never talked down to or insulted Megumi, he simply poured all his attention on Haruto… it was… suspicious. Was he sent to dissuade the teen from heroics altogether? It must be something to do with Gojo, why else would the HPSC student be so pointedly ignoring Fushiguro?

At the end of the session, the two waved goodbye (well, he did) to Takami and headed towards maths. He really hoped things would be different tomorrow.

By the end of the next day he realised that things were not in fact different. Actually, it was even worse because now Fushiguro was constantly clenching his fists, an irritated scowl replacing his resting bitch face and that was a goddamn crime. Megumi’s face was a fucking blessing!

“Hey Fushi, you ok?” He asked quietly as the two walked side by side through the halls. When he only received a grunt in response he added “Are you mad at me?”

Fushiguro stopped so quickly that his trainers squeaked against the floor “Why? Because some commission dog has been sent in to spy on us or because you think the guy is hot? Why would I be mad?”

Haruto went slack jawed, any words he wanted to say dying on his tongue as he looked at the cranky face of his best friend. Leading up to this week, the two had been toeing the line of more than friends but never quite taking the next step. So seeing that simmering anger was like a bucket of cold water… quickly followed by a burning heat… embarrassment, confusion… anger, after all he’d never been that great with his emotions, always feeling like he could be one step away from a poisonous vindictive streak. 

So his eyes narrowed and mouth slowly closed, jaw clenching as he shot out a hand into the other teen’s shirt, pushing him with a grunt into the wall “I don’t know why he’s here!” He hissed angrily “I didn’t ask for some guy to come in an-“

“And flirt with you? And eye fuck you in front of me- everyone!”

The quick change in wording made his eyebrows shoot for the sky.

‘Jealous’

Any rage he had instantly dissipated and a greedy looking grin slowly spread, a feeling that wasn’t uncommon these days began pooling in his stomach as he watched Megumi swallow, his adams apple bobbed and a pretty pink flush began to spread up his neck. He wasn’t even really sure what he was doing as he leant in at a leisurely pace, drinking in the anxious look on the other teen’s face.

But before he could say or do anymore, a singsonging voice echoed through the empty corridor “~Boys!! Although I would LOVE to see where this is going because the blackmail material would be heavenly, you-“ she twitched a finger at Haruto “-are supposed to be heading home to meet Izuku.” 

Nemuri had a wicked smile on her face, clearly enjoying the stricken look the two boys shared as they turned to her. “Go on…” she reached them, putting a gentle hand on each of their shoulders, whispering “and don’t let outside forces influence or interfere your own personal developments” then walked away with a skip in her step. 

Just before she got to the corner she turned and called out “I’ll drop off some condoms tonight sweetie.”

‘hjkghjfhjdhjkds'

Wednesday felt like it was going to be the same as the previous two days, despite Nemuri obviously warning them to not let Takami come between them, the blonde weaselled his way in at lunch after a rescue lesson with Thirteen, shunting Haruto over in his seat. He offered food to Haruto, chatted about multiple subjects as if checking for what he might be interested in, touched his shoulder and thigh affectionately and of course, winked… a lot. 

And that’s the worst one because while the rest is just annoying (more so because of his blatant disregard of Fushiguro) the winking makes his stupid ass heart flutter just a little. He can’t help it, he’s never received attention like this, of course the blonde is good looking, his eyes are like a treasure chest of golden coins and his tight uniform showed lean muscle so yeah, the winking is like a compliment he didn’t know he was addicted to.

But when he looks over at the dark haired teen, his heart aches because he’s pissy as hell and its not fair. After the two waved goodbye to the HPSC teen (and thoroughly checked their clothes and bags for feathers) they made their way towards the classrooms. It was less than ten minutes until maths so they just headed straight there, but Fushiguro was once again quiet. Haruto wasn’t sure how to start the conversation, whether it was a chat about the morning or just general chitchat… everything just felt tense. But just as the door came into sight down the hallway, his arm was gripped sharply and he was dragged into the toilets.

“Wh-“ His breathy question was cut off when Fushiguro began pacing the room

“That fucking- he’s constantly!!… and he!… With his stupid eyeliner, fluttering his fucking…” the teen continued his stilted speech and aggravated movements before spinning wildly on the spot and snapping loudly “Do you have a crush on him!?”

“Wh… WHAT?! Why are you getting shitty with ME? I didn’t ask for the fucking tit to flap his shit in my face!”

Haruto watched as the other teen’s face processed his comment, deeply furrowed brows softening, angry taut lips pulling into a tiny smirk “Tit?”

He felt tension bleed out of his own shoulders “Like blue tit. Its a type of bird… Izuku talks about birds a lot…”

Megumi crossed his arms, slowly dropping his gaze “Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout at you, never at you I swear… the guy’s been winding me up non fucking stop and he’s doing it on purpose, trying to pull you away from me just when I think we’re… and I fucking like-“ the boy stopped, panic in his eyes over his rant. Taking a deep breath he looked around the room mumbling “In a toilet. I just… in a toilet”

He watched with complete fascination as Fushiguro turned and practically ran out of the toilet, leaving him baffled “Right…” 

Fushi thought Takami was purposely putting the moves on Haruto, targeting him… when he’d thought Takami was ignoring Megumi as a way of alienating him. 

“I’m so confused” he said softly to the empty room. Huffing out a long sigh through his nose, he pulled his phone out and texted his dad.

Haruto: Dad I need to talk to you… can I skip maths?

Dad: Come to the staff room, I’m in the back corner pretending to be asleep.

A few minutes later he padded gently across the room as if he was trying not to make his dad jump, keeping up the sleep ruse. Slowly, he slumped down the wall next to the yellow lumpy sleeping bag.

“Dad… That Takami guy… does he have a problem with Fushi?” he whispered

A deep sigh came from the prone form by his side “No. Fushiguro has a problem with possessiveness. And jealousy.”

He winced… “I uh yeah”

“You skipped maths to talk about boys?”

‘Shit’

“Uhhh maybe…”

The sleeping bag shuffled and a little white slip popped out. It was a late notice to hand to Ectoplasm “Go on… boy talk can come after school. Preferably with someone other than me-“

“But dad-”

“Nope. I’m guessing by now you know the… interactions I’ve had with that boy’s father… I am in no way the right person to talk to. When it comes to relationships I am absolutely the worst. Go to your lesson, talk to Fushiguro, talk to Izuku - he might only be ten but he’s refreshingly innocent and might help change your perspective”

Surprisingly, Fushiguro had magically disappeared from school, pulled out for a ‘family emergancy’ so he made sure to text his best friend some well wishes and decided to take his father’s advice and talk to Izuku.

The boy was face down on the couch, legs over the arm rest in some weird plank pose, Tuna sitting in between his shoulder blades. His little brother was brimful of happiness recently, school was going well, he had his two best friends, he’d developed excellent control of his quirk, plus he’d just finished building a palace on minecraft (and filling it with cats) so apparently life was sweet. Was it really his place to be putting all his worldly problems on this little shining emerald?

“‘Ruto what’s wrong?” came the muffled voice from the couch

He sighed and plopped down on the seat next to Izuku’s head, threading his fingers into the mass of curls that were splayed all over the cushion “There’s a guy… well there was one guy and now there’s two, I don’t want two, just the original one well I don’t mean I want him like, well I do, I mean-“

Izuku flung himself upright, ignoring the indignant cries of their cat as it was launched into the air. The freckled boy pressed his hands firmly onto his hips “This calls for snacks!” 

A shockingly short amount of time later Izuku came back and pulled him over to the kotatsu where there are chips, weird home made dip that Izuku had experimented with on the weekend, anime themed crackers, a large tub of Nutella with two spoons and microwave heated takoyaki - which he then gave to Tuna as an apology.

Izuku then nodded with determination and grabbed a small notepad that just magically appeared from nowhere “Talk… which boys, who is behaving like what, what are you feeling…tell me everything.”  

Several minutes later after relaying literally everything he could think of, Izuku hums, dipping and crunching as he does, gesturing for the teen to do the same, writing notes. After several minutes he starts to think Izuku has no idea what to make of it all but at least he got it off his chest… but suddenly the younger boy stopped mid dip and points the chip at Haruto.

“Takami is flirting with you to try make you fall for him so that you will become more am-aim-a… agreeable to his suggestions, then with time he will convince you to leave UA and work at the hero commission with him, eventually ending up working with Endeavor.” Izuku slips the chip in his open mouth and happily eats, jigging from side to side a little in pure snack contentment.

Haruto is stunned with the theory, his arm is outstretched, frozen in place, breadstick with dip on the end still in hand. 

‘Fushiguro said take away from him….’

“I was so caught up in thinking about my stupid feelings that I didn’t listen to him, when he said about Takami taking me away from him, he meant literally, not like in an emotional way or in a we almost… I’m such an idiot, he probably doesn’t even-” it was a rare occasion when Haruto took off with some Izuku style mumbling but he was off with the races when a chocolatey spoon was shoved in his mouth.

“Slow down a sec, what did dad say was Fushi’s problem?”

He frowned, pulling out the spoon, licking it clean “Possessiveness and jealousy”

“Right, don’t dismiss feelings then… Anyway why is that your first thought and not how the HPSC is literally trying to manipulate you?” Izuku scooped the last bit of dip onto a breadstick, eying the Nutella thoughtfully “You and Fushi need to be a team right now, keep an eye on this wing guy, don’t let him know you know, y’know?” Then the little weirdo added the chocolate hazelnut spread to the breadstick and dip and any respect he had for the kid wafted away like smoke on the breeze.

“You are fucking gross”

“I am a scientist”

“You’re also really clever…” he leant forward and dragged the kid into a firm hug “thanks for the chat Zu.”

“No problem, just keep your cooties and relationship stuff away, I don’t want to accidentally catch your love virus and end up kissing someone, that’s gross.”

Haruto rolled his eyes and shoved the kid away, grabbing the Nutella spoon and smearing it on the little shit’s forehead.

The next day he doesn’t get a chance to chat to his friend before homeroom, the other teen stomping into the room immediately before the bell and getting an evil eye from their teacher. So as the two leave he returns the favour from the previous day and drags him into the toilets, muttering bitterly as he finds a red feather behind one of the sinks. Turning to Fushiguro with a dark look in his eye, he lights the feather ablaze, enjoying the shocked look it gets.

“I wonder how that feels for him…” he rubs the ash between his fingertips “I’ll ask when we see him later”

“So if this is about yesterday-“

Haruto holds up a hand to stop the teen then quickly retells Izuku’s theories adding at the end “We can’t let this drive a wedge between us, I think he’s ignoring you, you think he’s flirting with me-“

“He is!” growls the other teen.

“I fucking know!” Haruto snaps back “I didn’t fucking ask him to!”

Both boys stand there awkwardly, listening to the distant chatter of students heading towards their first classes.

“Sorry” they both blurt out at the same time.

Haruto sighed and whispered “Look, we can’t let this come between us… if it is some kind of tactic to make me go with this guy or stress us out, make us fall out so I end up leaving-“

“And running back to Endeavor and the Commission” Fushiguro added solemnly

“We need to stick together, find some leverage, get in this guy’s head instead of the other way around because I am not going to work with those assholes or the shit stain of a sperm donor…” Haruto was shaking a little, any chat about Endeavor still boiled his blood but slowly he straightened out his fingers, rubbing the little crescent marks in his palm and rolling his shoulders to relax his stance “it is never NEVER going to happen…” he reached down and threaded his fingers into the other teens hand. It was only for a moment but they both brightened, with renewed affection and resolve.

That afternoon, they both dismiss the blonde’s playful attempts, now that Izuku pointed it out, he can look at those pretty eyes without getting flustered, instead seeing something off in them, like maybe the commission student had something more to hide because when he didn’t realise Haruto was staring, those same flirty eyes looked a little dull and lifeless.

Things run smoothly at the USJ, the two heroic support students worked in groups with class 1-A so Haruto never has a moment alone with Takami. When the weekend rolled around he (and Fushiguro) are both in great moods, texting, gaming and on the saturday night video chatting and streaming a movie at the same time. They began to grow close again, as if those first days of the winged student arriving had never disrupted their blossoming romance in the first place. All the way through the next couple of weeks it continued and after Takami nagged him for his phone number (and Haruto relented) he walked home from school hand in hand with Megumi just seconds after waving goodbye to the blonde. 

When they reached the point where they separated, they hugged and while it started a little awkwardly, Haruto eventually melted, sinking into the embrace. Megumi pulled back a little, hummed into his ear and whispered “You’re so warm and it… it makes me feel…” his breath tickled his ear but the words immediately sent blood in a southerly direction so while he wanted to pull away embarrassed, he needed to hide his rapidly stiffening-

“Haruto!!!” Izuku bellowed out down the street, waving like a lunatic as usual, skipping a little in his jog.

‘ffffffff’

“Boys, listen up, I have news.”

Haruto and Izuku sat at the kotatsu, indulging on the yummy curry the younger boy had just dished up. Aizawa had his laptop open in front of him and he looked tired - more tired than usual.

“The schedule for the next few months is a little flexible so I don’t have exact dates yet - and Haruto, no saying any of this to your friends, not even Fushiguro. But now that the sports festival is out of the way, the class has internships-”

Izuku burst into a mumbling rant, he could make out that hero students were basically ranked on sports festival performance and sent offers so how would that work for Haruto?

“Alright relax lil bushy” Haruto gave him a playful nudge.

“So Heroic Support students usually apply to fifteen agencies with letters, academic evidence of their skills etc” his dad waved his hand in a circular motion “-then pick whichever they want to go to from their responses. You unfortunately HAVE to apply to Endeavors agency-“

Haruto snapped his gaze up ready to scream curses but his dad placated him “But you do NOT have to choose that one. The HPSC have been sticking their crooked noses in but wording is everything so Nezu and I carefully crafted the responses. You have to apply to him but you go where you want.” He slapped his hands down on his knees and leant back a little “Right, you’ll do a few afternoons a week and you’ll probably be happy to know that Takami will be vacant for the next few weeks while all of this happens.”

He breathed out the air he was holding, sweet relief coursed through his veins… double relief actually. The opportunity to tell Endeavor to get fucked AND the meddling flirty bird would be disappearing for a while… perfect.

“Then you’ll be having exams and before we know it, summer camp is here. Which brings me to you Izuku.”

“Am… Am I coming?” Izuku looked confused, shifting his gaze from his dad to Haruto then back again.

“That’s your choice. You can come, you’ll be doing quirk training but you’ll be kept away from the rest of the class-“ 

Izuku slumped which made the two others chuckle

“I’ll also be quite busy but we are happy to have you, I promise… alternatively you can stay here, Mic and Bang have agreed to stay with you-“

Izuku practically leapt across the small heated table “Will bang train me!?”

His dad smiled “I’m sure that can be arranged”

Time flew by swiftly, his internship took place at a small agency nearby much to the chagrin of the HPSC and Endeavor. But when Takami swung by to complete paperwork for the upcoming summer camp, the teen looked disheveled. He watched him from afar, wondering if perhaps the commission were punishing him for not delivering results as Izuku theorised. Without even realising he begins to sympathise with the blonde and makes it his mission to talk to Nezu and get information on Takami… perhaps the poor bird has clipped wings and is trapped in a commission cage.

Izuku’s 11th birthday rolled around with little fanfare, this year the boy asked to stay home and have a movie marathon with his friends. Haruto shamelessly invited Fushiguro and everyone stayed up far too late, happy with the knowledge that it was a friday and there’s no school the next day. 

He was so distracted by the rambling nonsense of the three little kids that when Fushiguro grabbed his hand, nodding towards the stairs he suddenly thought that there were race horses in his chest. 

And he got off that damn couch faster than he’s ever moved in his life. 

But fate was not on his side… after taking just a single step he’s wrapped in his dad’s capture scarf and dragged back “You go make yourself comfortable in Haruto’s room Megumi… my son here is sleeping in my room downstairs. Izuku, you and your friends can sleep in here, I’ll push the couch back and the three of you can roll out futons, then I’ll sleep in Izuku’s room.” 

The tone leaves zero room for negotiation and somewhere in the room Izuku and his friends are cheering albeit a little tiredly, but he can’t honestly hear it over the sounds of his frothing rage because his dad fucking cock blocked him (a term Auntie Nem taught him). 

He dragged his positively murderous gaze from his dad and turned to Megumi, pouring devastation into his silent communication with him. And the boy understood entirely, even going as far to give his dad the classic ‘dead eyes’.

“Off you go then Fushi” the tired pro gave a scheming smile, tilting his head a little to the side.

Fushiguro turned and padded gently up the stairs, mumbling out “I’ll text you Ruto” 

The binding cloth finally unravelled once he was out of sight and his dad placed a soft hand on his shoulder “sorry son”

“I will literally incinerate you if you don’t move that hand.”

With less than three days to go until the summer training camp, he finally found the time to meet with Nezu.

“I have to say I’ve been watching your interactions from afar and I agree with young Izuku” the rat rubbed his paws together “Such a bright little boy, quite fortunate that he didn’t turn to villainy… same for you really…”

‘Ok, wow… ok’

“Anyways, here’s everything I’ve dug up on Takami, I’ve been saving it all into a folder for us to discuss in anticipation of this very moment” Nezu hopped down from his chair, chirpy and smug as he went to pour tea for them both.

Haruto picked up the folder, sifting through documents, some look like they’ve been redacted then painstakingly recovered but what he reads is… appalling. “Fucking… oh fucking hell!”

The boy was practically bought from his mother, with little choice in the matter it seemed, case files about a Lady Nagant going rogue and needing replacement… hellish training from the age of seven? Torturous methods to increase wing strength and flight speed? Forced to ignore instincts associated with his quirk, hands and feet covered because of scaly skin like a bird’s claws - apparently unsightly for a future limelight hero, possibility for surgery later? 

“So he’s been trained forcibly to be a spy and a soldier? Maybe even an assassin? And if he doesn’t produce results?”

Nezu sat with a deep sigh, pulling another folder out “I won’t be showing you this but lets just say he is punished for his failures”

His mind spins and unwelcome guilt pools in his stomach. He doesn’t think its Izuku’s influence that pulls on the little bit of heroic heart he has left, making him blurt out “We have to help him!”

The principal gives him a reassuring smile, his soft little voice is so calm “Keep things going the way they are but be aware that the teen may become erratic or get desperate in his attempts to lure you in and ‘produce results’. I will work on this-”

“If I agree to meet Endeavor, that should help right? You can combine it with evidence and get him out of there! He can come study here surely! You could play it as a way for the commission to have a man on the inside… I don’t know, just… just get him out of there before they-“

He hadn’t even realised he was hyperventilating, losing control so much that he’d never even heard the door, but then a big placating hand was rubbing his back in those trusted circles. He took a slow breath in, breathing out “Dad…”

“Its alright, we’ll get him safe.”

Chapter Text

“Everyone hurry up and get in the coach, no fighting over seating, no loud irritating noises. We are going to be spending a week together, admittedly only a couple hours north of here in the mountains and lakes but still, lets not end up hating each other before we even get there!” 

Aizawa stomped to the back of the line of chatty students, nudging them one by one as he passed by “I’m surprised you weren’t at the front of the line with Fushiguro” he smirked

Haruto looked him dead in the eye as he droned “He’ll save me a seat, if anyone sits next to him that’s not me, I’ll roast them.” 

His dad growled a little, muttering about the trip ahead.

Takami would be meeting them there apparently… and it filled him with dread. How would the teen look? He hadn’t seen him for a couple of weeks and honestly, after everything he’d read he was worried about him and yet he didn’t know how the hell he was supposed to react to him - he was probably bugged so its not like he could confront him, he was just trapped. He talked to Fushiguro about it, saying he might have to play along with the blonde to stop things spiralling out of control but at the same time he was loathed to make Megumi feel bad.

When he got on the bus he was excited and a little apprehensive to see the boy sitting in the back corner with an empty seat next to him… confessing on a bus? No, no that wouldn’t do. But it was becoming harder to ignore and with all that might happen with Takami, he desperately wanted to make his feelings towards Fushiguro known. Perhaps they could sneak off somewhere, escaping the winged student and the well trained eyes of his dad… mountains, forests, lakes… that’s romantic. 

Perfect place to say ‘your eyes have captivated me since the minute I saw you and I want to stare into them every morning when I wake up for the rest of my life.’

He stopped halfway down the coach “Fuck… fucking chill” he muttered, cursing over and over as he resumed the walk to the back.

“You ok there?”

‘Arghhhh so fucking pretty, I’m gonna die’

“Uh… sure”

The two were saved from awkward silence by sharing headphones and watching a movie on his phone. They were so wrapped up in it that they arrived at the lodges without even realising and standing right on the steps out the front of the main lodge was the winged student. He had a slightly frazzled look in his eyes but determination was pouring off him, his stance straight and resolute.

“Do what you need to do” Megumi looked thoroughly downtrodden as he said it but Haruto yanked him back “He’s not getting my first kiss… I’m saving it for someone special”

The teen’s stood still as the other students filed off, subconsciously drifting closer together and just as Megumi lifted a hand, threading fingers into the back of his white rooted hair, a loud shout came from the front. 

“Everyone off the bus, it has to go back to the station, abandoning us poor teachers with all you brats!” Vlad King laughed heartily before stopping with a slight choke “Sorry boys I- was I interrupting-“

“No you were not, my son and his best friend were just talking right?”

‘Oh fuck’

“Haruto! Megumi!! My besties! How’s it going? Excited for a whole week together?” The blonde was buzzing with artificial energy and it had Haruto’s head spinning. If he’s honest, he’s pretty sure that’s actually the first time he’s even said Fushi’s name… so what is going on? When Nezu said he might get more erratic, this hadn’t crossed his mind.

While he stood in shock, Fushiguro thankfully filled the tense gap with his usual un-emotive chatter, talking about what Aizawa Sensei had told them, even discussing the sleeping arrangements. 

“Yeah well a maximum of six to a cabin, I wonder if we can snag one for just the three of us”

And that had both the teen’s baffled.

‘Is he coming onto both of us now?’

“Alright, gather around everyone…” His dad pinched his nose, voice dull and tired “I know you think you’re here to relax or have fun…” a wicked smile spread on his lips “but when has that ever been the aim when I’m involved”

The class grumbled, Vlad started laughing, slapping the Pro heartily on the back and joining in “Its time to get dirty kiddos!! You have a few hours to find a fresh clean water supply and fill these twenty four 10ltr drums! Divide the tasks because you need to hunt and catch at least two animals - sorry if you’re a vegetarian haha” the blood hero flung his head back laughing, canines glinting in the sun.

“But alternatively” Aizawa growled “There is a map and compasses on the table, use them to find the vegetable garden and fill the baskets with carrots and potatoes. Then get back and prep dinner with the other provided ingredients. Oh-“ 

‘Uh oh’

“And beware of ‘villains’ in the forests” his dad’s eyes shone with mischief.

Before they could even respond, Takami slumped onto the two teens, looping an arm over each of their shoulders “Lets work together guys!” 

Four hours, cuts, bruises, mud, a burnt off eye brow and a growling stomach later, Haruto sat down with Fushiguro and Takami to eat. The initiation into summer camp had being an absolute bitch and he honestly didn’t have the energy to fight off any bullshit that might brew between the three of them. 

So when the blonde leant forward, a flirty look in his eye, ready to prattle some innuendo, Haruto held up a hand. “I can’t do this… I’m too fucking tired.” Then he got up and walked around the back of the blonde and started riffling through his feathers.

Takami choked on his rice, shrieking but not pulling away “Wh- uh what are you doing??!”

He grumbled unintelligibly, noting the suspicious glare from the black haired teen and the tense panic from the blonde.

‘There you are’

Pulling out the small golden coloured disk, he softly held it between the tip of his thumb and forefinger, holding it out “How many?”

The winged student paled, shakily holding up three fingers.

“Huh ok…get comfortable ~Keigo” 

He continued shuffling through feathers, amused that he literally made the teen shiver with antics of his own but occasionally checking to make sure he wasn’t actually upsetting the boy too much. The second was closer to the bottom of his wings, the third on his actual skin between the wings. He then went inside and grabbed some joggers and a hoodie from his bag, tossing it over once he returned “See you in a minute Kei”

He then sat down and resumed eating, getting a nod from Fushiguro. After a minute Takami was still stood there, shock, horror… terror on his face? 

“Oh are we going to sit with Sensei? Sure I’ll grab our drinks, you grab the food” he pointedly scooped the three listening devices up off the table then nudged him towards the lodge while he trudged towards the teacher table.

“S-sure” The still bewildered blonde stuttered then took off.

Pulling out his phone he wrote out his intentions on his phone and showed the screen to his dad. The man nodded with a soft smile, took the three devices and theatrically added “Ah yes no problem, plenty of room around here” while signing to Vlad what was going on.

A few minutes later when the blonde came out, he was dressed in too long joggers and a too big hoodie because the damn bird is a few inches shorter than him… its kind of fucking cute even though he belatedly realises the bastard had to cut holes in the back to get his wings out. 

When he arrives at the table, Haruto stands up and pulls him into a surprising hug “Safe now yeah?”

He takes pride in feeling those layers of taught defence peel back a little as the winged teen sags into the cuddle “Uh yeah… but what’s going on?”

He beckons him to sit back at the table and after checking that nobody on the neighbouring tables was listening, Haruto took a deep breath, ready to throw it all out onto the table.

“I’m not fucking having a whole week of exhaustion AND dealing with this-” he circles his hands between the three of them “- tense phoney bullshit… I know why you’re here and I’m sorry but you were about as subtle as a sledge hammer. I thought you were ignoring Fushi to punish Gojo, he thought you were flirting-“

“He fucking was-” Megumi butts in pointing a fork at him.

Takami laughs freely, more jovial than he had been in the weeks they’d known him “To be fair, I absolutely was.”  

While the teen by his side literally growls, he just continues, trying to get through this before he collapses from fatigue “Right… my brother came up with the theory that you were trying to pull me away from UA, back to the commission, back to fucking Enji. Nezu said the same. And I’m sorry pal, that ain’t happening. If it was up to me, I’d fucking burn the bastard to ash”

The blonde sat back and whistled “Ooooh not sounding very heroic there Zawa”

“Don’t call me that! And there’s a reason I’m not training to be a hero, shit probably the only reason I’m not a villain is because of Izuku-“ as his voice became strained, emotion seeping in through the cracks, Megumi reached over and grabbed his hand, gripping it with a grounding energy, reminding him that he’s not alone. Taking another breath he looked up with pleading eyes, muttering “Do you even know anything about me or just the bullshit the commission fed you?”

Takami rubbed his face roughly, leaning forward onto his elbows “I’m sorry man, I was just doing my job, its not like I enjoy getting electrocuted on the weekend… and hey-“ he looked up at Haruto with a cheeky grin “for what its worth, you are pretty hot, I wasn’t faking the flirting-”

Obviously that set Megumi off, crushing his paper cup, ignorant to the water that splashed onto the table.

‘Oh fucking great’

The winged student pushed back with a heavy eye roll “Oh calm down! Yeesh and you call me a dog, you got a fucking collar for him?”

‘Are you fucking kidding me!’

Megumi stood up aggressively “Oh you wanna fucking go!” 

But by some goddamn miracle, his dad was on the scene in the blink of an eye, wrapping Megumi up in his binding scarf “Stop this right now! I don’t want to deal with your hormonal tantrums, none of you!”

The whole fucking camp is silent, Haruto wants to crawl into a hole and die because everyone is staring at the four of them. 

Aizawa is scowling, quirk activated at Fushiguro “You, take a walk with me, Takami go around and get all the dishes and wash everything up, Haruto you’re drying up.”

‘I didn’t fucking do anything!!!’

Sucking in a breath because screeching at his dad would probably result in a life long grounding, he huffed “Fine” and stomped away towards the outdoor kitchen to start piling up the pots and pans.

A few minutes later the blonde joins him, thankfully he just quietly starts doing the dishes. He doesn’t even know what to think because for a minute there he thought maybe they could talk rationally, maybe they could work things out instead of dragging him in every fucking direction as if he wasn’t still recovering from fucking trauma. Why did he have to fucking poke the bear, Takami knew what would happen!! 

Haruto huffed loudly, pretty much having a ton of conversations all to himself in his heaad. Then he starts to get pissed because hey, Keigo is traumatised too and fuck Megumi for being a possessive dick. But then Keigo is working for the commission and fuck the commission for ruining everything—

Aggressively drying the cutlery, as it turns out is a terrible idea because he cleanly slices his palm open. Hissing at the pain he rages and throws the knife into a tree, embedding it up to the hilt with how viciously he’d thrown it. 

“FFFFF fucking fucking fuck, fuck you” he shrieks then he turns and repeats the sentiment to Takami who is standing like a deer in some headlights.

“Everything was going fine until YOU came along! I’d been in therapy, I was considering seeing my mom again, I was making my dad and my brother proud by being here… Fushi and me were getting close! I like him!” He knows he’s practically screaming at this point, that his quirk is tipping towards a wild fire as it spits in bursts from his closed fists, burning his fingers but he’s too gone to care, too exhausted, too emotional. “I never thought I’d feel anything but fucking anger and a desire to get revenge but he’s my best friend and he’s perfect and I dream about him instead of being burned alive and you’re fucking ruining everything!!” 

“I’M SORRY!!” Takami grabs his hands, wincing at the heat “Please! Please calm down, I’m fucking sorry!”

“Haruto” Megumi’s calm voice cuts through the swelling tension, he sounds so wounded that he immediately turns to the black haired teen, yanking his hands from Takami’s grip.

Aizawa, who’s just behind him runs his hand down his face so roughly, groaning loudly “Fucking teenagers… Haruto, go with Fushiguro, grab a first aid kit on your way, there’s some benches by the lake, go there and calm down…” he narrows his eyes “…No funny business.”

Haruto pants shaky breaths, trying to calm down but feeling the tingling sensation of the burns with every step away from the edge “He’s not coming” he mutters towards Takami.

“Correct” his dad says darkly “he’s going to come sit with me… for a little chat. And Haruto, take care of yourself ok.”

It’s only ten minutes later that the two boys get to the lake and sit down. He happily gulps painkillers while the other teen opens the kit and rummages around for a sterilising burn cream and bandages.

“How much did you hear? He whispers, feeling more and more exposed with every second that passes.

After what seems like a lifetime, the other teen takes his hands and starts cleaning them and applying the cream. The silence heightens the pain but he bites a lip, eyes keenly trained on Megumi’s face as he waits for an answer.

“Everything from when you hurled that knife into the tree… good throw by the way”

‘Oh fuck’

“R-right”

Finally Megumi looks up, meeting his anxious gaze and piercing his soul “Is that all you’re going to say?”

Haruto pulls back a little, leaving his hands that are being delicately tended to but expressing as much hurt on his face as he can “What do you mean!? You heard me screaming my feelings for you and you have nothing to say about it? If you’re going to re-“

“I pushed you to this! And now you’re hurt because of me! You’ve been through so much, he’s just doing his best to not get fucking tortured and what’s my excuse in all this?! I’m always so reserved and impersonal because if I let go, I’m wild! I’m possessive over you, every second he’s near you I want to fucking snatch you up and scream mine! Like a fucking toddler with a favourite toy!! You’re everything to me! I want you all the time, I need you but fuck! You deserve better than some jealous psycho!”

He’s so taken back by it all he has no idea what to say, they’re still just arguing and ranting at each other and yet he can’t get over the way his stomach flips when he says he wants him. 

So he grabs him and yanks him forward, mashing their lips together in the dumbest, most bruising unromantic kiss. Ah the best laid plans go awry. 

His hands are in weirdly numb and he’s pretty sure kissing is supposed to be soft and beautiful, not savage like this, but he just doesn’t care because he realises that he’s wanted this since the second he saw Megumi in the damn pet shop.

The boy in front of him gently pries his hands off the collar they’re clinging to and the second he’s free, Megumi lunges closer, flinging an arm around the back of his shoulder, the other thrusting up the back of his neck and into his spiky hair. He gasps at the motion and the kiss gets infinitely deeper, flooding his veins with euphoric chemicals. It's absolute bliss and if the deep long groan the other teen lets out is anything to go by, he feels the same way.

After a surprisingly long time but ultimately not long enough, they break apart, panting a little, both with unbridled wild eyes.

“Stop getting angry and jealous of him, you’re the one that I want” he practically cries, desperate to convey how important this is “Not him, you, always you!”

Megumi flies forward again, first aid kit supplies soaring into the air as Haruto is pushed back so he’s laying flat on the long bench. The teen hovers over him, crowding him with forearms either side of his head and kisses him again, taking his time so it’s a little softer but they barely get started when footsteps cracking twigs and branches alert them to an approaching student.

“Fuuuushi? Harutoooo? Aizawa sensei sent me to check on you guys and I uhhh I really don’t want to see your dicks! I-I mean I don’t have a problem with you guys being together, to be honest the pining has been unbearable and you guys are like my best friends, I just uhh I don’t want it to get awks y’know?“

“Fucking Suji” Megumi mumbles against his lips making him smile.

A few minutes later, the two boys walk back into the dining area of the camp where the students are lounging, ready to go soak in the baths or turn in for the night. Its a peaceful twilight and the minute he makes eye contact with his dad he’s going to watching him relentlessly. But before he makes it over to him, Takami abruptly places himself in his line of sight.

“Guys… I’m sorry, can…” the blonde sighs and looks up into the darkening sky before turning his steely gaze back down “I want to start over, no more bullshit”

Beside him, Fushiguro scoffs and he’s inclined to agree because this ass doesn’t know how to not be a little shit.

Sensing this, Takami laughs “Alright yeah… but I won’t cause too much trouble. I promise. I had a chat with Aizawa and he and Nezu have something in the works to uhhh unclip my wings so to speak.”

Haruto relaxes, every bit of that was just what he needed to hear “I’m glad and yeah, lets just all try to get along?” He raises a brow to Megumi who clenches his jaw for a moment but with a squeeze of his hand, the teen nods.

“Awesome” Takami extends a hand towards him “Keigo Takami, the Wing Hero Hawks!”

Haruto chuckles and shakes the offered hand, gently so as not to undo his bandages “Pleasure to meet you Hawks”

And of course he’d walked right into that “Oh the pleasure is all mine” but before Megumi can stab him or something dramatic, the blonde smirks at the boy, winks and adds “You too”

“Ughhhhhhhhhhh seriously?”

Megumi is about to walk away when Takami grabs his elbow and steers him back “So you still haven’t told me your Heroic Support Code Names?”

Haruto blinks in confusion, their what?

“The Heroic Support Students typically don’t choose their code names until towards the end of the first year” Aizawa joins the three, still suspiciously eying the hand holding that’s happening “-given that they work in multiple facets of heroics, there is more to consider, so they are given more time.”

Takami eye rolls “Pssssshhhh Boring. You fellas got any ideas yet?”

Haruto breathes out as a gentle but giddy warmth floods his chest “I already know mine. Izuku unknowingly picked it the day after I met him”

His dad tilted his head a little, trying to work it out but he wouldn’t guess so he took pity. With a smirk that bordered on manic “Izuku and I were trying to give me a new name, he specifically said I couldn’t call myself incinerate or cremation because it sounded too villainous” he ignored his dad’s groaning “So of course… my heroic support code name will be Dabi.”

His dad walked away, probably having a crisis of some sort but he took great joy in seeing the awed look on Megumi’s face (and the amusement on Takami’s).

“That’s awesome!” The two boys chimed together.

The rest of the week, although exhausting, was great. The three boys now got along just fine, the casual flirting from the blonde is mostly ignored, albeit with fond eye rolling for the most part. 

When Takami pins Haruto against a wall with an attempted Kabadon, he laughs because the blonde is absolutely mismatched with that kind of behaviour and minutes later after some rather posturing, Fushiguro repeats the move, only this time he looks so intense that Haruto gulps and licks his lips, completely unaware of Takami falling about laughing at the two.

After arriving back at UA, Takami waves his goodbyes, this time it's returned by both. But when they turn, Aizawa and Gojo are standing staring at them.

“Uhhh… yes?” Haruto doesn’t like this, its been coming but he was hoping he could get a day or two to relax before it started.

The white haired hero is the first to dive forward, placing a hand on his shoulder “Harutooooo, how was camp? I see you and Fushi finally-“

“Fuck off dad” 

“-Got your act together and quit the endless pining stage” he rushed out as he dipped under a forearm aimed at his face “Now now Megumi, lemme talk to your boyfriend”

“Hold on a second, I need to talk to your son first” Aizawa muttered as he grabbed Satoru’s sleeve, yanking the hand off Haruto.

“You’ve had a whole week old man-“

“I’m barely two years older than you, I can start calling you a child if you fucking want!”

Haruto stepped back as the two bickered, looking to Fushiguro with a silent plea of ‘please lets just fucking run away together’

And so they did, literally climbing on the back of his shadow wolves and zooming off as fast as possible, laughing like dumbasses all the way back to his house where a very excited Izuku was waiting for them.

Things settle into pleasant monotony, months drifting by, schooling continuing, training increasing, relationships blossoming. He doesn’t know how they did it but Takami is now enrolled at UA for at least the next year, even staying on campus except one day a week were he goes to the commission to ‘report in’. But he never comes back looking haggard and is relaxed and happy. Even says he’s made friends with a few others that live on campus… and he knows exactly who he’s talking about.

Despite being just there, he still hasn’t taken the first steps towards seeing his family again. He’s not sure when he will be ready but if he still gets a pain searing into his chest when he sees a flash of red and white hair from a distance, he knows its not time yet.

Christmas comes and goes, slow kisses taking up as much of his free time as he can manage and when his sixteenth birthday comes, those slow kisses dissolve into something deeper and he feels passion bursting through his body with more fire than when he loses control of his quirk. Its everything and he clings onto Megumi with an obsessiveness to rival the other teen’s possessiveness. 

By some miracle, its never unhealthy, when Megumi has to leave for a week during the second year first term break to do something with his father, Haruto misses him but functions perfectly well.

Sometimes he wonders if time is flying because he’s becoming more at peace with everything because suddenly he’s taking his Heroic Support licence exam and Izuku is turning twelve! Time is eating weeks and its just before the summer break of his second year of UA when he leaves the conference room of the Ingenium agency with a proud smile on his face. 

He’s more than half way through his schooling and in just a few days, its his anniversary with Megumi. Its going fantast-

“Touya”

Everything screeches to a halt as the voice, brash and loud from behind him, viciously grabs his heart in a vice.

“I know its you, I didn’t- I mean… I’ve always wanted to see you, its been so long… so many years since I made a shrine for you at home”

He’s so furious but he’s terrified at the same time, frozen in place as his chest is hammering, palms sweating, ears ringing. 

“Enji… Did you come to find me or- or was it just chance?” He whispers hoarsely

The silence screams the answers for him and it takes everything in him not to turn around and burn the asshole to cinders… then piss on it for good measure.

With a deep shaky breath, he growls out “I want nothing to do with you… go away” and despite feeling like he’s made of solid lead, he wills his legs to take him out of the hallway, straight into Tensei’s office without ever looking behind him.

When the door closes behind him, he’s shaking violently, pale and nauseous.

“Haruto? What’s up buddy?” The hero is someone he admires, courageous, caring and brave, the absolute epitome of heroic.

“E… Ende…” his throat is not easing up but thankfully, Iida gets it.

“Shit… shit…. Ok just come sit, come on” he immediately dials Aizawa, running over and locking the door to provide some semblance of sanctuary in the office.

Two steps forward, one step back.  

Haruto manages to lock up all his pent up terror and emotional turmoil in a little box, getting through the rest of his week at Team Itaden agency. Then, as soon as he gets home, promptly collapses and spends a day in total silence. Given everything that had happened, grand plans of hiking and romance for their anniversary were put on hold. But with love, food, counselling and more love… things calm down enough for him to open back up and take off from where he had been before Endeavor smashed it to pieces.

At the end of the second year, just after his 17th birthday, Megumi takes Haruto to meet his sister. He rarely spoke of her but now as the two sat in the hospital room, chatting as if the third person in the conversation hasn’t been in a coma for years, something clicks in his head.

When they leave the room he turns to his boyfriend “I think I’m going to… I mean…Will you come with me when I meet my mother… and maybe eventually my siblings too?”

“Of course”

Chapter Text

Izuku sat with his dad in the corridor, the atmosphere was calming, light nondescript music, vases of flowers, even the staff had peaceful demeanours. It had only been a few minutes since Haruto and Megumi went in but the quiet sobs had subsided, so now soft voices were filtering through the thin wooden door. 

He felt a little nosy listening to the stilted, awkward reunion between his brother and Rei Todoroki, but he needed to make sure things didn’t get out of control. He was determined to be available for his brother, should he need him… just like he was for Izuku.

It had been a week since he’d come home and asked his dad about it, his plan was to go see Rei, tell her what happened, introduce his boyfriend and once the initial heavy emotional reconnection was out of the way, bring his dad and brother into the room - sparing the two from having to relive all they went through in the beginning.

He listened to Haruto retelling their story, how he was given his name that bright sunny morning in that cold condemned building, how the two grew close while scavenging for food and how he’d found Aizawa. Rei, with a heavy heart begged for forgiveness for not being there for him but he interrupted saying the first thing he thought about when he woke from that coma, was apologising for his behaviour. He’d been clouded by Enji’s ridiculous path for superiority and when he got home, seeing how horrible things were, he almost went rogue but Izuku saved him.

“I’m so very looking forward to meeting him, he sounds like an angel” Rei’s soft voice rang out, making him blush. 

“That’s a really nice thing to say” Izuku whispered to his dad, “she’s nice.”

It was a long day, Izuku watched Haruto peck his boyfriend on the cheek as he left, then descend into the house, quickly making a beeline for his dad’s room. He peeked through the ajar door to see his brother curled up in Aizawa’s bed, plush quilt pulled up with scrunched fists, held in front of his face.

“Come on” his dad whispered, grabbing the knob to pull the door closed “Lets leave him to rest”

A week before the new school year started, Izuku was watching cartoons when his phone started ringing - it was a group video call!!

“Toshi! Mei!” He excitedly waved at the camera on his phone, seeing the purple haired boy give a small salute and Inomaki….

“Guys… I have some bad news” she said with a quiet whisper. Her quirk didn’t work over technology, so if she whispered to make sure her voice wasn’t overheard, then she could talk normally.

“Are you ok?” “What’s wrong?!”

Mei dug her palm into her eyes “We’re m-moving” she sobbed “Dad got a job in Kagoshima, we’re leaving in three days”

‘That’s literally the furthest place in Japan…’

Izuku felt crushed, he looked at the phone, seeing his friend furiously rub her tears away while Hitoshi slumped forward on his desk, just the top half of his face showing over his folded arms.

“I’m really going to miss you guys” she continued

“Come over for dinner!” Izuku practically shouted. Haruto was out (again) with his friends, so why not!

A few hours, vast amounts of food and two movies later, the three kids were all hugging. “I’m really going to miss your funny phrases, you won’t have to use them over the phone” Izuku whined.

“Pfft a blessing in disguise” she scoffed.

Izuku grabbed her shoulder, rhythmically shaking her back and forth “Noooo I love them, they’re always so fun.”

“To each their own” she replied with a soft smile.

A knock on the door downstairs had the three tensing up and behind him, his dad nodded and activated his quirk “Time to wrap it up kids”

Mei cried, clinging onto the boys “I hope I find new friends as awesome as you guys!”

“Unlikely” Hitoshi deadpanned but grinned as he dodged an swift elbow from Izuku.

“Lets stay in touch! Always, ok?” Izuku pulled back with a bright friendly smile “And when we’re awesome heroes, we can work with you, you can be our PR manager!”

“Sounds perfect”

Four months later Izuku turned thirteen, he has a big birthday dinner with his dad, Bang (and his girlfriend -“ooooohhhhh”- Toshi told him he had to tease him like that), Hizashi, Nemuri, a bunch of heroes from UA, his best friend Hitoshi, Haruto and his boyfriend… it was amazing. His birthday for the last couple of years had been perfect and he just doesn’t know how he feels when he thinks back to how his life used to be. 

Sometimes he’ll wake in a sweat, thinking it was all just a beautiful fantasy, he still occasionally wakes from a vivid dream, flapping around the room in a panic before he calms and turns off his quirk. But all in all, things are ok… even when things get a little stressful.

Like when Haruto came home from a bad day on his internship, a hero in his team had been injured, a nasty knife wound stretching up across his ribs… just like the one his dad got that night.

Or when his dad came home one night in the middle of patrol, frantic with stress because a girl had been kidnapped right in front of him and he didn’t get to her in time. 

It hurts seeing the people he loves break into pieces, but Izuku is strong, he thinks. ‘I’ll be the glue that fixes them, I’ll pull them back together.’

He trains one night a week with Bang too, learning even more fluid fighting moves. Now that Haruto is in his final year at UA, he’s been revising for exams - so Izuku learns with him, giving him mini quizzes and absorbs all he can in the process. He still goes to UA to train his quirk on a weekend, now he has his butterfly, peregrine falcon, humming bird and the Harpy Eagle. 

That newest one came from a trip to a different zoo with Hitoshi, his mum and dad, a real family day out… where Mr Shinsou had been on and off the phone all day and Mrs Shinsou had bailed at lunch time due to a client emergency. 

(Flashback)

“Don’t take this the wrong way Tosh-“ he looked up at the eagle swooping down to pick up a big heavy sack in it’s talons before taking off again “Your parents kinda suck”

Hitoshi looked over his shoulder at his dad, chatting animately on the phone before looking back at Izuku “Yep… s’alright though…” the two boys looked back to the bird as the trainer commentated that these birds of prey were the strongest, able to lift the heaviest weights of any bird. After a hum, Hitoshi continued “I’ve got Bang, Ms Kaori his ~girlfriend~, Mr Aizawa… and you”

Izuku turned quickly to look at his best friend, feeling his heart beat a little in his chest “That’s real sweet Tosh.”

But the boy just groaned, flopping onto him dramatically making Izuku squeal with laughter.

(End of flashback)

A week before Haruto turned 18, Izuku cracked cardboard Mic out, taking him out to the pizza shop to prepare for the epic birthday card he’s making. With Hitoshi’s help, they get photos of Mic eating pizza, playing with cats at the cat cafe, wearing a flower crown at the local park… and in his dad’s bed, just so he remembers that fun moment.

On the special day, everyone is sitting in the back garden around the large table strewn with paper cups, food and an obscene amount of cards and presents. Aizawa scowled at the over the top gift card for the piercing studio Nemuri handed over “More piercings?”

“I’ve just got one more to do, we’re both excited about this last one-“ he laughed as Megumi by his side blushed furiously, Aizawa groaning and mumbling something about too much information

‘What’s that all about? He didn’t give any information’

Before he could ask Haruto held his hand out to Izuku making a grabby motion.

“Ok ok ok” he giggled

When he hands over the card, Haruto bursts out laughing, wiping away stray tears “This is amazing!” His brother turns, putting a hand on each shoulder to talk in seriousness “Never abandon the cause. You must prank all newcomers… you must keep pranking dad, Mic, Nemuri and Bang at every opportunity, oh and Hitoshi because he was a little shit this morning”

(“Hey!”)

Izuku smiled and nodded enthusiastically “We can keep this long standing tradition going!”

Haruto’s smile drops just a little “Uh yeah… yeah sure”

‘What’

“Haruto… tell me… wh-what aren’t you telling me?” He’s suddenly all too aware of everyone sitting around the table, his dad has a hint of sadness in his eyes and it’s making him panic.

“After I graduate from UA… I’m moving into my own place with Megumi”

Izuku flinches back, logically he knew this would happen eventually, but Haruto just turned 18!! He can’t go yet! They’ve not had enough time! He doesn’t want to be alone!

And then he looks at his crestfallen brother and the pain and guilt in his eyes.

‘No. Its time to be a brave boy’

“You… you’re going to be ok? W- We’ll keep surviving?” He whispers, heartbreak leaking into his voice before he’s quickly pulled into a strong, crushing hug. His brother squeezing around him with warm, strong arms.

“Izuku… you’re going to be ok… I’ll still come around all the time, like so often you’ll get sick of me… and some days you’ll get home and you’ll be like, I swear I didn’t strap Cardboard Mic upside down from the ceiling and you’ll think… is there a ghost, but it’ll be me and I’ll be hiding in the kitchen eating all the crackers.” Haruto pulls back and looks him in the eyes, teary turquoise meeting teary emerald “And I’ll be ok, I’m still going to therapy, I still meet my mum every two weeks and everyone at the two agencies I’ve been hired at knows not to let Endeavor anywhere near me without warning.”

Izuku sniffed, holding on tight to his brother. He could feel the cool wintery breeze fluffing up his hair but the surprisingly warm sun beaming down atop his head. It’s going to be ok.

Four days before the end of term, Izuku was flopped over Megumi’s shoulder in a fireman’s lift as the black haired teen wandered around the house. Haruto had been given an extra long, floppy cat plush by a girl he’d pulled out of a drain. She’d been terrified, her parents screeching for help and panicking her further, so Haruto walking past had come and saved the day. So later, a weird long squishy soft toy was delivered by the girl and her embarrassed parents who found out he wasn’t even technically a hero and hadn’t used a quirk, more that he’d just used his brain!

And of course, Haruto put the plush over his shoulder the minute they got home from UA and in turn, Megumi sulked until Izuku got home, then grabbed the teen and slung him over his shoulder in retaliation. 

The two were comparing their plushes, Izuku laughing his head off, when the front door opened and slammed shut, quickly followed by stomping footsteps.

“Hitoshi?” Izuku called out from his shoulder top position, recognising the footfalls

The purple haired teen rounded the top of the stairs with a furious scowl that immediately softened when he saw the scene in front of him.

“What’s up shithead?” Haruto asked with his usual teasing tone.

And then the miserable look returned, the boy stomping over to the couch (grabbing Tuna on the way) and slamming his butt down making his irritation known.

Izuku, Haruto and Megumi shared a look, the two older teens nodding in silent communication. Then Izuku was not so gently deposited at the other end of the couch (upside down) “I’m going to head home, hope you’re alright Shinsou-“ Megumi walked over and quietly kissed Haruto then waved to them as he padded to the stairs “See you all tomorrow” 

Haruto then turned and went into the kitchen, filling the kettle and raiding the fridge.

Once Izuku was upright he reached over and petted Tuna in Hitoshi’s lap, wondering how to approach the situation ahead of him. Hitoshi had come over in a similar mood just two days after Christmas when he found out his father was leaving. Apparently moving to Kyoto for not just a new job, but a new girlfriend. The teen had been upset about it, knowing that not only would he see his father even less but now when his mother was busy, he wouldn’t have the other parent around to be with him so it meant more time alone.

“What’s wrong Tosh?” He asked quietly. There was no reply, the room echoed with the sound of hot drinks being made, plates clattering as they were laid out and filled with snacks.

After Haruto bought over drinks and food, he sat at the kotatsu, pulling out his computer to leave the two in peace, without actually leaving, giving this level of hidden support.

“Mum has some work placement thing in Sendai, the whole school holidays. The whole fucking school holidays! And dad is too busy. So I’m being sent to my fucking uncle in Seoul. I won’t even be in Japan for the whole six weeks! I knew something like this would happen, I’m just a fucking inconvenience for them I swear to god.” 

Hitoshi sounded so angry, wounded but filled with rage… and Izuku knew he should be supporting his friend but in that moment all he could think was that yet another person in his life was abandoning him. First Inomaki, then Haruto, now…. No… no first it was Hizashi, then Kacchan, then his mum… they always left, everyone was always better off without him!

“Izuku” Haruto called with a gentle firmness, pulling back out of the Kotatsu.

He hadn’t even realised he’d been slowly moving towards the sliding balcony door, mumbling in his internal spiral. But his brother’s voice snapped him back.

So he yanked open the door and took off, flying through the sky as fast as he could. And his falcon form was the swiftest so he was gone, barely hearing them calling out over the whistle of the wind.

When he landed on the roof of the apartment building he lived in as a child he felt overwhelming guilt. He knew he shouldn’t have taken off like that, overreacting and probably making Hitoshi feel even worse. 

“I’m a terrible friend” he whispered into the breeze.

Sitting in the long shadows, lit by the ever sinking sun, Izuku thought back to what had happened. Yes Inomaki had to leave but it wasn’t anything to do with Izuku and his friend had been so adamant about staying in touch, in fact they talked literally every day. She hadn’t abandoned him. 

And Haruto was only moving house, not only that but he’d stipulated to Megumi that regardless of commute times, they needed to be within a fifteen minute walk of Izuku… he wasn’t leaving him really and Haruto promised to be around all of the time. Maybe he could postpone leaving home for after Hitoshi came back, then he wouldn’t have to say goodbye twice. 

And it was only six weeks, Hitoshi would come back right? He has to come back!

“Problem child” his dad sighed from behind him “Of course he’ll come back” 

Izuku got up and ran into open arms, sobbing uncontrollably “Everyone a-always leaves me, I’m s-so scared of being alone again that I’ve- I’ve been a terrible friend. H-hitoshi was ups-set-“

“Hey hey, it’s ok, just try control your breathing for a minute, its ok son. Hitoshi isn’t upset with you. Haruto called me, on speaker. They’re both just worried about you.”

He didn’t say anything for a while, just gradually calming down and sinking into the loving embrace of his father.

“Nobody is leaving you Izuku, people eventually do different things and it might take them to different places but they don’t ever really leave.” Aizawa slung his head back to look into the darkened sky “I sound like a damn cheesy movie…” he pulled back from the hug and crouched down a little “Y’know, I was kinda lonely until you and your brother came along, so while it might just be the two of us at home sometimes, you’ve shown me that we have plenty of people to lean on.”

Izuku nodded, rubbing his face on his hoodie sleeves “Thanks dad”

“Now… lets go home, we’ll grab takeout on the way back”

Izuku stopped, the reality of what he did catching up to him. He’d taken off… illegally using his quirk, leaving his phone behind, not telling anyone where he went…

“Yes you did” Izuku squeaked when he realised he’d been mumbling - again!

“And while I’ll overlook the illegal quirk use, several people were kinda worried there for a moment y’know… you’ve been gone for over an hour” his dad wrapped an arm around him so despite being gently scolded, he didn’t feel too upset “Bang was checking your old school, Haruto was checking the industrial estate you lived in, Nezu was checking security cameras in the area, Kaori was checking our neighbourhood… heck Mic was about to make an announcement on the radio!”

‘All of that just for me’

“You’re loved you know, really loved by a lot of people”

When he reached the stairs at the end of the rooftop, ready to head down he looked out across the area he grew up in. In the light of the last sun, it felt even colder. Why would he even run from all that warmth and affection just to come back to a place that had been filled with so much pain. With a shake of his head he looked away and set off down the steps, ready to go back.

“I’m going to say sorry to everyone, I… I didn’t mean to run off”

“Its ok lil green” 

When they reached the car, he noted the haphazard way it was parked and felt a little guilty again, his dad had probably been so worried, rushing and hoping-

“Hey don’t spiral again, let’s go get food. Hitoshi is staying over tonight and Haruto has promised to make his famous hot chocolate for supper”

There it was, that soothing feeling that came from being surrounded and cared for by a loving family. 

When they got back, everyone embraced him again, Hitoshi in particular was practically glued to his side, something that amused Haruto for some reason. He talked to his best friend, apologised for getting in his own head instead of helping the other teen feel better about a less than fortunate situation. Haruto even slept in the living room with the two of them, making the boys giggle endlessly when he’d fallen asleep with Tuna on his face just like when he was younger.

After a night of fun and cuddles, the last few days of school went by smooth and calm. And despite feeling like he was losing a limb, Hitoshi’s goodbyes were without drama, just a few extra long hugs, promises to play online or chat every day and a parting gift of Hitoshi’s favourite hoodie - it was dark purple and had cat ears!! Izuku had always commented how much they both loved it, especially the fur covered front pocket. So when the teen gave it to him to ‘look after’ while he was gone, he knew it was meant to reassure Izuku that he was coming back.

“I’ll be training hard Izuku, my uncle is an MMA fighter and my auntie does professional parkour! So I’m going to come back badass! I’ve got a lot of catching up to do so I can keep up with my future hero partner!” 

Izuku bounced around energetically when he’d said that to him “You got it Toshi! I miss you already!!” 

Although he felt sad, he kept busy. Haruto graduated from UA and everyone was incredibly excited. They had a huge party to celebrate and while he looked to his side often, seeing an empty space instead of his sleepy friend, there were plenty of people stopping him from feeling lonely.

Two weeks after Hitoshi’s departure, Izuku went with his brother to look at the apartment he had just rented with Megumi. It was about a ten minute walk and there was a spare bedroom, apparently perfect for little brothers to come stay in. 

And because he couldn’t live with the idea of not having a cat, Haruto ‘immediately needed’ to go to an adoption centre to pick out a cat so Izuku came along for the cuteness.

“Look at this lil white one… its got my hair” the teen had big doting eyes as he picked up the little ball of fluff, but Megumi butted in

“Looks like my dad, its even got big blue eyes, no thanks”

“But I’ve got blue eyes!”

“Different shade, its important”

Izuku laughed at their antics, wandering around and internally crying at the extreme levels of kawaii in the building. The adoption centre had practically dumped all the available cats and kittens into one large room, it was chaos but adorable. After walking over to the other side of the room he saw a very odd looking kitten, hiding under a table. 

It was a soft grey colour, with spots and a tiny tail but its most striking feature was the way the fur on its front legs didn’t match the rest. Izuku got down on all fours, slowly extending a hand out as an offering “Pspspsps”

The staff member came over and handed him a little mouse with a bell, probably filled with catnip “That’s Mix… Been here two weeks, she’s a cross breed between an American bobtail and something we’re not sure about, apparently she was hit by a car and her fur grew back on her front legs weird, then she was sent here.”

“Perfect” Izuku looked back over his shoulder to see his brother standing behind him with a soft look on his face “She’s absolutely perfect”

When he turned back, the kitten was sniffing his fingers “Hey there lil princess.” With the help of the cat toy, he quickly had a very soft kitty sitting in his lap purring up a storm.

“Now not only will I be home all the damn time, you’ll be round at mine all the time, using the guise of visiting your loving bestest big brother when really you’ll just be wanting to see my cat” Haruto laughed as he tickled her soft chin.

“Yep!”

And he wasn’t wrong, time was flying by like the flick of a kitten’s whiskers. He had helped his brother move in, which meant sitting on the couch with Coffee Bean the cat, bean for short. So named for the spots that resembled coffee beans.

“You can’t call her coffee bean” Aizawa stood firm in the kitchen the day they’d bought her home, the small kitten cradled in his arms like she was the most precious thing in the world

“You bet your ass I can”

“Language… and its just… I love coffee” his dad whined pathetically

“And you’ll love my cat” Haruto laughed back

“Exactly… you can’t do this to me” he said lifting the cat up so they were looking face to face

“Meow” Coffee Bean interjected

“Exactly” the teen grabbed his kitty, bringing her up to his neck to nuzzle.

A week after Haruto had moved in, Izuku spent the night, flooding the group chat with pictures of Bean and immediately joining the video chat that started. Mei and Hitoshi cooed over the pretty kitty and Izuku soaked it all up, feeling happy with how everything was going. 

As the chat went on, he felt like something was different with Hitoshi, he could only see his face as the teen was bundled up in what looked like ten massive blankets but something was definitely different. He dismissed it of course, because at that point it was only two weeks until Hitoshi would be heading home.

But when he did come home, he immediately saw what was different.

The grand reunion came the day before school restarted. Izuku was intensely excited, brimful of nervous energy that had Haruto coming over to try calm him down. He switched between anxiously pacing the living room and dramatically flopping onto his brother who lounged on the couch.

“Jeez will you chill out! He’ll be here any minute, go sit on the recliner!” 

Izuku climbed off, deciding to get back to pacing instead, shoving his hands into the fluffy pocket on the borrowed cat hoodie “I just… I mean… he’s coming back to me- here, I mean he’s coming back home, well not my home I just mean he’s going to be back and I’ve missed him, I know I talk ever day to him but I haven’t had him here with me, not like, I mean-“

“Ughhhhhhh Izuku!! Stop iiiiiit!”

He turned around ready to babble incoherently but the front door opened downstairs and he froze like a deer in headlights.

“Izukuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!” The teen shouted as he sprinted up the stairs.

And of course Izuku screeched in excitement. “Toshiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!” And dived towards the boy as he rounded the top of the stairs, colliding with…

Muscle

‘Huh?’

Because that was the change he hadn’t been able to fully see… Hitoshi had not only packed on a surprising amount of muscle, he’d had one hell of a growth spurt and now stood at more than half a foot above him. Even his jaw looked a little more defined, probably highlighted by his hair that was even wilder than before…

When Izuku pulled back with poorly hidden shock, the teen looked down, heavy lidded lilac eyes meeting wide, stunned emeralds… and then Hitoshi smirked.

‘Oh shit’

He was so mesmerised he barely registered his brother bursting out in hysterics behind him. The two ignored it in favour of just staring at each other without a care in the world. The teen used his big strong hands (‘were they always that big?’) to grab and squeeze the tops of his arms and with a voice, low but smooth like velvet he said “It’s so good to see you Izuku, I’ve really missed you”

‘Oh…. Oh shit….’

Chapter Text

Walking out of UA, an hour later than usual, Shouta dragged a hand through his unkempt hair as he sighed tiredly. The first day of term was tomorrow and he was a little apprehensive, while nothing stood out on paper, he just had this niggling little feeling that this year wasn’t going to be great. But, with a wriggle of his shoulders, he literally shook the stress of the day away, eager to get home and absorb some of Izuku’s no doubt positive energy. 

The teen may have kept busy and hidden his feelings well but he knew that his son had missed his friend Hitoshi. The timing really sucked, less than a year since Inomaki left, then his brother announcing his moving out… it just played up to all of Izuku’s fears, so there were mornings that he could see the boy had barely slept. 

Looking into the rearview mirror at his eyebags, he made a mental note to see what he could do to improve Izuku’s sleeping habits before they descend to his level of insomnia. “Maybe a sound machine, some new herbal non caffeinated tea to drink instead of sugary hot chocolate before bed” he scratched his light stubble as he mumbled to himself “Aromatherapy? Lavender?”

A short drive later he was pulling into his parking spot and taking a deep breath at the front door. It was probably so noisy in there, maybe he should have a quick shower and get changed before heading up to the living room?

Cracking open the door he was surprised by the quiet… with narrowed eyes he quirked his head to listen, but there were just mumbles and occasional soft tones of speech floating down the stairs. Weird…

Shouta decided to forego the shower to investigate, even if they were just watching a movie together, there would still be the occasional excited squealing or something. When he reached the top of the stairs, what he wasn’t expecting was Izuku sitting still, somewhat bolt upright at the far end of the couch. Hitoshi was sat at the other end, equally stunted and weird, while Haruto leant over the kitchen counter facing towards the two with an amused look on his face as he played with his phone.

“Kids, how was your day?” He asked casually, curiosity flurrying through his mind.

Hitoshi shot up, standing and turning “Mr Aizawa, its good to see you again!”

‘Weird… and awkward? What is this? Also-‘

“Wow, been on the protein shakes or something there Hitoshi?”

The teen threaded a hand into his hair, a little of that shyness peeking out that he was used to but there was still something going on.

“Ah yes Mr Aizawa, my uhm- my aunt and uncle had me on a strict diet and pretty much trained me to death for the whole six weeks sir”

‘Sir? Hitoshi isn’t normally this formal?’

“Haha Sir?” Haruto barked out a laugh, coming around the counter with a large steaming hot drink in hand “Jeez Toshi, you’re talking like you’re trying to ask for his son’s hand in marriage” 

Haruto handed him the delicious cup of coffee and looked him right in the eye, silently conveying…

‘No….’

Quickly he turned just in time to see Izuku start choking on thin air, his face turning red, a shade deeper than a tomato, a beetroot maybe? And to his side, Hitoshi literally wheezed, mouth opening and closing like a fish.

‘Great, just got rid of one pining fool, now the other one starts’

In an attempt to circumvent any further displays of diarrhoea inducing awkwardness he asked “You staying for dinner Hitoshi?”

“No Mr Aizawa, my mum just texted, she’s probably outside…” the poor kid at this point was literally stepping back towards the stairs “I’ve gotta go, see you tomorrow Zu!”

And then he bolted downstairs and out of the door.

The second it slammed shut Izuku was grabbing a manga off the table and throwing it at Haruto “You shit stain!”

“Language!”

The younger teen dived over the couch, charging his brother with apparent murderous intent, so before the two could fully engage in warfare, Shouta shot out his scarf and captured the two, holding them firmly in place.

He sighed, fists clenching firmly on the capture weapon “I’ve had a day… a real day, so tell me… What is going on!?” 

Izuku started screeching but it was incoherent so Shouta covered his mouth and nodded at Haruto

“Hitoshi came back all hench and somehow managed to hold off an embarrassing display of low-high voice breaking long enough to to smooth talk Izuku, who basically finally realised he has a crush and pretty much got all gooey eyed, then after they stared at each other for an excessive amount of time-“

At this point Izuku started fighting the capture scarf more, ranting through his nose since his mouth was covered

“-quit your squirming Izuku, you know I’m right! Anyway, then Hitoshi looked at him like” the older teen began his impression of Hitoshi “~oh my god I’ve missed you so much” Haruto wriggled enough to be able to clasp his hands over his heart to add to the theatrics “~And even though I’ve pretty much been in love with you forever - and he fucking has been-“

“Langage!”

“-~being apart from you for siiiix weeeeeks has made me fall in love even more and now I’m all awkward~”

“…”

Shouta looked at Izuku who was now staring at the floor with shocked eyes. Slowly he released the capture weapon “No fighting, I want to drink my coffee”

Izuku sighed “Its fine, I’m not fighting, I need to go draft my letter to the Japanese Space Agency to find out the requirements to volunteer for any experimental 'no chance of return’ space flights”

And with that he went up the stairs to his bedroom. 

So he turned to the white haired teen who was standing casually, biting his lip to hold in a laugh “Did you have to tease him like that? And Hitoshi with that proposal bull?”

“Yes.”

“Ughhhhhh” Shouta walked over to his recliner, grabbing the coffee he’d quickly put down out of harms way when the fighting started “Get upstairs and apologise, tell Izuku to text Hitoshi and bitch about you so they can have a common ground to stop being awkward with each other”

“The fu-“

Shouta glared, quirk activated “Go, NOW, be a good big brother… and give him ‘the talk’ so I don’t have to”

“Hell no!” 

“Do it or I’ll get Gojo here for dinner on sunday and we’ll coordinate to make your and Megumi’s life hell” he sipped the still warm drink, humming as he did because it was delicious.

Haruto stood in front of him with crossed arms “You wouldn’t, you hate Gojo!”

A wicked grin spread on his face “I am not above cutting my nose off to spite my face. Now, go” he made little shooing motions with his hand and got back to sipping his drink.

So… Izuku and Hitoshi have mutual crushes… well he can’t say he didn’t see it coming.

An hour later, the three of them were sat at the kotatsu eating dinner and chatting, all earlier grievances forgiven apparently. Izuku was texting Hitoshi a lot, when Shouta asked what they were talking about, he said they were still both talking crap about his brother - a common enemy apparently. 

Haruto rolled his eyes excessively prompting him to ask “Why are you here anyway?”

“Megumi is visiting his sister”

Shouta frowned “And where is Coffee Bean? You didn’t leave your precious baby at home all alone?”

“Nah Gojo has her-”

Shouta pulled back affronted, how dare he let that clown look after the cat and not him! 

“-You were at work shut up”

Before he could retaliate, Izuku turned from his phone, red faced, buried his face in a cushion and screamed.

‘I’m fine… this is fine.’

It turned out that this weird feeling that he had about the year proved to be correct, as he made his way home from his first day with the new class 1-A, he reflected on the look they had as he expelled the whole class. Well… they were being re-enrolled in a week, either on different courses or under different teachers but still, they were out of his hair for the most part.

And with that free time, it didn’t take long before Haruto approached him and asked for his help with meeting his siblings. So one week later, he, Izuku and Haruto went to the UA residences where Natsuo, Fuyumi and Shouto were.

He had given them strict instructions that if not followed, meant none of them would ever be allowed to see their brother again. Those being - Do not call him Touya, his name is Haruto and has been for several years now, Do not ask if he is going to reconcile with their ‘Father’, Do not nag for details on what happened to him if he is not forthcoming, Do not insinuate that they are more his siblings than Izuku is.

The door opened suddenly, both of his son’s flinching instinctively given the nerves. Well, Haruto was nervous, Izuku was worried about his brother.

“T- Haruto! Im so happy that you agreed to come see us!” Fuyumi quickly covered her initial mishap, beaming with happiness. 

Over her shoulder, Natsuo had a calmer happiness, an odd mix of relief, reverence maybe? “You’re my hero… I mean, I know that phrase probably means jack all but, I know it was you working with Aizawa and Nezu, getting us out of there”

“Natsuo!” Fuyumi chided, smile falling away.

‘So she wants happy families, with Endeavor in the mix’

“I hate that asshole! And I’m not going to conform to whatever you want Fuyumi, you’re with me right Haruto?”

He felt his older son melt a little by his side, probably grateful that someone in his family agreed with his opinion. 

“Come on, lets head inside for proper introductions-“

“Oh I didn’t see ya there, you’re Izuku right?”

Once they got inside, Fuyumi went to the kitchen to prepare tea while Natsuo lead them into the living room where Shouto was sat on the couch. Haruto’s steps faltered and he saw in the corner of his eye that Izuku took his hand and gave it a squeeze before stepping forward.

“You’re Shouto right? We’re the same age! I’m Izuku” 

The two-tone haired boy gave a tiny but warm smile “Yes… its nice to meet you Izuku”

Haruto was frozen in place, staring at the boy with conflict on his face. Shouta knew the older teen would be battling with the feelings of inadequacy and jealousy from his youth but that was at war with the fact that he saw this boy being abused that night he went ‘home’… this boy that was the same age as Izuku who he adores so much. 

“Do… do you want to see my room? I have some anime posters.” Shouto had obviously led a very sheltered life until a few years ago when they moved from Endeavor’s place and while he now apparently had a few friends at school, the thirteen year old was still socially awkward and a little quiet.

“That would be cool! What’s your favourite? My friends and I do a team chat every saturday night…” Izuku’s voice faded away as the two walked down the hall and out of sight. 

By his side, Haruto flopped down into a seat and looked up at Fuyumi, who hovered by the door with a tray of tea “Come on, sit down. I know you two are probably hoping for more details… but understand this, Izuku is my little brother, he saved me and this might sound horrible, but he means more to me than anyone else. That tired looking guy there, he’s my dad, the best dad I could ever ask for and he also means the world to me. And while we” he waved his arms around between him and the two Todoroki siblings “are blood family… that life was a long time ago and almost every memory I have is painful.” Haruto took a deep breath “Maybe with therapy, you can all be family to me in the same way Izuku is”

Fuyumi opened her mouth to say something but Natsuo cut her off “That would be amazing. You are and always will be my big brother… I was devastated when you were… when that asshole said… We can be the family we should have been without that monster”

The girl looked like she wanted to cry but Natsuo had a bright look in his eye, his gaze locked onto Haruto’s

‘I have a feeling that those boys will get on well… the sister not so much…. Shouto remains to be seen’

The next twenty minutes flew by, like he predicted, the two boys chatted extensively about everything from schooling to what music they liked, Fuyumi stayed quiet, occasionally discussing her culinary school work.

“I really like Goodra, he’s so sweet but never gives up” Izuku’s cheery voice filtered back into the room as he and Shouto walked back in. Shouta beamed with pride noticing that little Izuku had managed to pull the reserved boy out of his shell.

“I’ll need to watch that series, even if Ash was robbed as you say”

“Shouto” Haruto stood up, looking at his youngest sibling “I need to… this is really hard for me but I have to say sorry. I was bitter and jealous, cruel before the accident and then when I came back… I saw him… we both saw him… beating you, saying it was training but he was abusing you and I almost snapped. It’s taken me a long time to separate what I saw and felt from what was really happening. So-“ he strode over and placed a very shaky hand on the boy’s shoulder “I’m sorry and I’m glad you’re free”

Shouta was still sitting on the couch, watching in amazement, occasionally flicking his eyes to Izuku who was almost crying with the respect he held for his brother.

The two toned boy panted a little, breath shallow and emotional “I ummm… apparently I am touch starved, I was… can I…?”

Haruto pulled both young boys in, Izuku looked like he would have died if he wasn’t included in the hug so it was good to see. Natsuo practically dived off the couch and joined the three boys but Fuyumi stayed still, confusion and indecision painted on her visage.

‘Another time perhaps’

The next few months go by, Izuku regularly conversing with Shouto and while for a split second, Hitoshi seemed a little jealous of Izuku’s new friend, when the boy pointed out that he was excited to have a new brother, everything went very smooth. 

And now, it seemed that Izuku was hurtling towards adulthood, the two locking eyes in the laundry barely past sunrise. Izuku flushed dark red “Its not pee!” He squeaked… and then he made a weird noise that was like a cross between a cry, a wheeze and a choke “I just made it so much worse!! I’m sorry, I didn’t know what to do! It was all over my pjs and the bedding and I tried to clean it up but it had slightly dried and everything was stuck together and I really needed the toilet but my pen-“

“Stoooooop” Shouta waved his arms frantically “Don’t say anymore!! I didn’t see you, you didn’t see me!” He then started talking quickly, trying to get the embarrassing stuff out of his mouth as fast as possible so he could go drown in coffee “Its perfectly normal to have wet dreams, exploring your body at this age is also normal! I’m sure your brother told you about that and if he didn’t then gohaveanotherchatwithhimbye”

And then he spun on his heel and bolted out of the laundry, literally taking two steps at a time, the quiet sound of Izuku whining in embarrassment petering out behind him.

From that moment on, he was forever grateful that his room and Izuku’s were literally two floors apart.

Once again, months began to melt away like snow on an early spring morning, remnants of their impact lingering despite being out of sight. His youngest child was now a thriving teenager, his eldest, a successful young man well on the way to a promising career. It was with great pride that Shouta walked into the Ingenium agency, contracted to participate on a mission where children with weak or no quirks were being taken while walking home from school. The trafficking ring it seemed, had access to school records, indicating a mole in the system. Weeks of work was due to be presented today and when he walked into the room, standing at the front of the table, was his son Haruto. When the two locked eyes, they nodded - Haruto with respect for the hero that was his father and Shouta with deep satisfaction that his son was doing such a good job.

On the screen there were four video call windows open, but each was muted with the video feed disabled - obviously so the people could listen in without interrupting or causing distractions.

After a debriefing, Haruto cleared his throat “We will be conducting two simultaneous raids, one on this school, approximately 40 minutes before the start of day to avoid interactions with students - and we have a few sidekicks from the Endeavor agency manning the main routes to the school to intercept any particularly keen students”

Shouta’s eyebrows raised sky-high… Endeavor’s agency was in on the mission?

Haruto paused clicking a button on the laptop in front of him, one of the video feeds turned on, revealing the Endeavor agency - the flaming pile of shit was sitting at the head of the conference table

“Finally turned our feed on huh? Letting us have a say?” The echoey tone of the flame hero coming through the speaker.

“Wait your turn Endeavor” Haruto growled

Shouta kept a keen eye on his son… surprised that he’d kept this a secret from him.

“Team A will infiltrate the compound holding the children and will consist of Hawks, Eraserhead, Endeavor and four side kicks as listed on the mission briefing, Team B will raid the school, stopping any communications getting out and catching all the perps during their ‘meeting’ and will consist of Ingenium, Manual and two side kicks as listed.”

A second video screen turned on with Fushiguro who was at Manual’s agency “I will be heroic support for Team B while Dabi will be working with Team A. Making sure the masterminds behind the operation don’t get away is imperative but at the same time, these are children, some as young as five years old, attacking with vitriol will frighten them, with that in mind, Endeavor will strictly stay outside of the building and take out external heavy hitting security forces while the faster moving, friendlier Hawks will go inside. Eraserhead is onboard to take out any unexpected quirks - be it from villains, or frightened children who could stress manifest.”

Shouta was loving how Endeavor looked like he wanted to explode, the respect among heroes for the number two hero had been steadily dropping in the few months since Dabi had been working, everyone gradually seeing the real man behind the hero mask “Sounds like an excellent plan” he said with a wicked smile.

“You’re going to relegate me to the team muscle? I’m worth more than that!” Barked Endeavor

“You’re not worth shit!” Haruto snarled back

“You’ll watch your tone! And while you’re at it, you’ll be going into that building with me! We will be going in to fight fire with fire”

Hawk’s voice suddenly came through, another video feed turning on the bottom right corner of the projection screen “Actually, I think its best if we listen to the heroic support staff member Dabi, this is his mission and we should probably do as he says…” suddenly two HPSC members came into view, an irritated expression on their face “That would be advised”

That night, Haruto came over, curling up at Shouta’s side. Izuku was already in bed, so while they did have the opportunity to talk, they both sat quietly, just enjoying each other's company, sipping hot drinks and watching the tv.

A week later Shouta was sat on the recliner, Haruto was in the kitchen with Megumi breading pork for dinner, on the couch was Hitoshi… sitting very close to Izuku. He side eyed them, watching them giggling over a video on Izuku’s phone… they didn’t need to be that close to each other right?

“Izuku, weren’t you lending that Lord of the Rings book to Hitoshi?” He asked, noting that Haruto was now listening slyly.

“Oh!! I forgot, Hitoshi I’ll go grab it!!” 

The boy dived over the back of the couch, both trying to show off and get up the stairs as fast as possible. The second his foot hit the top step and he turned to bolt into his bedroom, Shouta was on Hitoshi faster than lightning.

“Hitoshi Shinsou”

The boy visibly gulped “Yes Mr Aizawa”

“I see how close you’re getting with my son… and I mean that literally and metaphorically…”

Hitoshi wheezed “I… I… uhm”

“I’m watching you”

“….”

There was a tiny snort from the kitchen, Shouta shot his eyes up to see the two boys with their back to him both shaking with the desperation to contain a laugh but just then, Izuku’s door upstairs bounced off the wall as he yanked it open, running back out. But the green haired boy was in such a rush to get back to his ‘best friend’ that he lost his footing and slipped on the stairs, right arm yanking upward as he skidded down on his butt with a yelp.

‘Fuck my life’

“Izuku, are you ok?” He called with zero emotion in his voice

“Haha ah yeah I’m f-fine hah” Izuku was red, his arm cradled against his chest

“Izuku…” Shouta said with a sigh “Come let me take a look at your arm”

“ITS FINE!” The boy squeaked in embarrassment

Hitoshi turned on the couch “Ouch, you should let your dad take a look, it would suck if you were hurt and it got worse over time or something”

“You’re right” Izuku agreed immediately and nodded with a smile, walking over with purpose towards his dad as if he hadn’t just done a goddamn 180. 

Someone coughed in the kitchen, obviously saying “Simp” in the process and Shouta groaned.

‘Teenagers… I’m literally surrounded by teenagers 24/7’

An hour later when everyone was lounging and watching the TV a news report flashed up and Haruto lunged to grab the remote and turn up the volume.

“…The operation to rescue eleven children ranging from five to twelve years old was a success despite the explosion. According to all reports, the mission ran smoothly thanks to the coordination and actions of Heroic Support Officer Dabi, conversely, the critical damage to the area and endangerment to the trafficked children was supposedly due to the apparently reckless actions of the Number two hero, Endeavor.”

At this point, the news feed changed to the reporter stood in front of the ruins of the abandoned factory from the raid “I’m standing in front of the devastated compound where the flame hero Endeavor was said to have used excessive fire power in a bid to take control of the mission, it was Heroic Support Officer Dabi’s quick thinking that saved the lives of three of the children while Pro-Hero Hawks used his swift wings to pull the others from harms way.”

Izuku gasped, sitting up quickly from his slumped position on the couch as the reporter continued.

“The actions pulled the hero back into the limelight for less favourable reasons as several members from his team of sidekicks came forward regarding his violent tendencies and now, people have begun to ask, did the hero’s children leave his care so he could continue focusing on heroics, or were they removed for their own safety? We’ll have more on this story at 9pm”

“Ha! Fuck you, you flaming pit of garbage” Haruto yelled as he uncurled from Megumi’s arms.

“I know I’d normally say language… but I’ll let that slide.”

Chapter Text

Izuku sighed dreamily at the picture on his phone, it was a photograph of Hitoshi, taken in the botanical garden in the late afternoon sun. The boy in the picture was laughing at something Shouto had said as the three walked towards the arcade, of course Izuku took the photograph on the sly, quickly locking his screen, grateful he’d had it on silent.

“Zuku… Izuku… you’re looking at the damn photo again” Shouto called out through the phone speaker

The teen squeaked in embarrassment and almost dropped his phone as he scrambled to return to the call.

“I wasn’t! I just… saw… something, uh cool”

“You’re a terrible lier… to be honest, I have no idea how you haven’t blurted out a confession to him yet”

“Shouto! Stooooop” Izuku whined, kicking a stone on the floor as he walked back from school “You can’t tease me too, I get it all day from Haruto and even Mei is unrelenting over private chat”

“Sorry, Haruto bought me two packs of Hero trading cards to buy my teasing time, I didn’t realise what I was signing up to at the time but it was a verbal contract and I can’t back out of it unfortunately. They were really good cards, I got Edge Shot and Crust” the way his two toned friend (or brother as he now referred to him as) talked so casually, with minimal emotion in his voice, he couldn’t help burst out laughing.

“You’re terrible, so if I trade one of my cards, say Best Jeanist with one of your crappy ones, will that buy me some freedom from your oppressive and unrelenting teasing?”

“No”

Izuku practically howled “Oh my god!!!”

“Hey I’ve got to go, my mom is coming over for dinner and Fuyumi needs help with dessert”

“Ok Sho, talk to you later!”

Izuku turned the corner, heading towards the underpass on his way home. He had Hitoshi’s homework in his bag, the boy had been off sick with a mean cold so he’d gotten stuff from school to take around. Keeping up with their academic requirements was important, after all, it was only ten months until the entrance exam for UA!!

He couldn’t really believe it, the last year had gone by so fast and now he was already a month into his final year of middle school. Somehow, it had been a whopping thirteen months since he discovered he had a crush on his best friend… and realistically it had been about twelve months since he realised it was way more than a crush and he was essentially hopelessly in love with Hitoshi. 

But he daren’t say anything, despite encouragement from literally everyone… he was scared of losing the purple haired boy. That moment when he said he was leaving for the school holidays was like a knife to his chest, what if everyone was wrong, what if Hitoshi awkwardly turned him down then slowly pushed away and didn’t want to hang out with him anymore… was Hitoshi even into boys?

Izuku sighed and pulled his phone back out of his pocket to stare at that photograph again.

“Ah he’s just so beautiful” he whispered, breathily sighing while the sun disappeared over his shoulder as he walked deeper into the underpass.

A weird slithering sound behind him prompted him to turn just in time to see a mass of slime gathering behind him “Ahhh a medium size skin suit…”

Izuku screamed, diving to the side and activating his quirk to get away from the villain but the slime acted like water, dousing his flames and making him crash back to the floor as the wave of slime overwhelmed him. He clawed, pulled and scratched but felt fluid pushing in his nose, fighting against everything he tried. In a last ditch attempt to get free he reached forward and jabbed his thumb into the villain’s eye making it recoil back just long enough to suck in a breath and shout for help.

“Fear not citizen… for I am here!” 

The deep booming voice from a few metres away made Izuku roll his eyes… near death be damned… surely any hero would be better than this clown he thought darkly as the sludge villain began to pull back with a quiver.

A few minutes later, Izuku tugged his trousers back on over his quirk proof shorts and vest, watching with bewilderment as All Might tightly screwed the lid on the bottle closed.

“A bottle?” He rasped, coughing and grimacing at the smell that was clinging to his nostrils.

“Ah yes!” All Might patted the bottle in his pocket “A little ingenuity on my part, don’t exactly have handcuffs that would work, I think they’d slide right off him!” The blonde laughed at himself “Now, how are you feeling young man?”

“Uhmm pretty crap” he rubbed his throat and chest as he looked at the broken phone in his hand, irritation building in his body

“Oh! You’re probably wishing you could get a photo but it broke! I can sign something for you, lets see-“

The second Izuku realised what he was talking about and that the idiot was reaching over to grab his bag, a cold anger rushed through him.

“No”

All Might paused “Huh?”

“I don’t want your damn autograph!” He shouted despite the pain, clenching his fists by his side “You weren’t my hero when you didn’t bother looking for the quirkless kid in the fire and you’re not my hero now, thinking I feel crap about not getting a damn photo op rather than having nearly goddamn drowned in sludge!” 

All Might pulled back, distress on his face but Izuku couldn’t stop, couldn’t help the tears that sprang forth as he shouted so hard his voice cracked “You’re not my hero!”

And with that, he quickly grabbed his things from the floor and bolted from the underpass,  ignoring the blonde calling out to him as he ran.

About ten minutes later he ran through the front door, coughing because of running so hard and still having a sore throat from the villain attack.

“Izuku, what’s wrong” Shouta popped his head out of his bedroom door, eyes widening when he took in the state of his fourteen year old son.

The teen ran into his arms sobbing angry tears “Sludge villain… my throat, my nose… stupid All Might!”

Shouta scooped him into his arms and carried him out to the car, driving at preposterous speeds to get to UA in record time. The second he arrived there he ran, with the boy in his arms again, straight to the infirmary to get him checked over by Recovery Girl.

An hour later, the drip in his arm is mostly done, antibiotics thankfully coursing through his veins to stave off the infection that was already brewing in his lungs. By the bed, his dad was asleep in the uncomfortable looking visitor chair, exhausted from the initial stress of the situation. Izuku gave vague details until the minute Recovery Girl left the room, then poured his heart out through the oxygen mask attached to his face. Shouta was furious, hellbent on revenge until Izuku insisted he not leave his side, desperate for some calm after what had been a stormy afternoon.

He’d been so upset, after the panic subsided he was just absolutely furious… until the second he saw his dad and vulnerability crept up on him like when he was much younger and suddenly he felt so small, so young and all he wanted was to curl up in his father’s arms.

Reaching over, he began to gently thread his fingers through Shouta’s raven locks, careful not to snag on any knots and wake the man, a few minutes into this he began to hear voices through the window and pulled back from his father to peek through the blinds.

It was a weirdly tall, skinny blonde man with a deep voice, chatting to Nezu while walking down the path towards the entrance of the infirmary. To start with he couldn’t hear what they were saying but within seconds it became clearer.

“… it’s just that it’s bothering me, what did he mean that I didn’t bother looking for a quirkless kid in a fire? I would never leave someone that needs rescuing-”

Izuku sucked in a breath, shocked by what he saw.

“All… Might?” He whispered in confusion

“Well we’ll have to confirm things but I suspect-“ 

Nezu’s response was drowned out by the deep growl behind him, he turned just in time to see his father shoot out of the room. 

He gasped again, this time coughing from the force so he dived back to the bedside blinds, yanking them out of the way just in time to see Shouta laying out Skinny Might with a vicious right hook.

“Shit!” Diving out of bed, he yanked off the mask, grabbed the i.v. bag from the stand next to him and ran outside.

By the time he burst through the doors, his dad, quirk activated was wailing on the skinny blonde with savage fists, Nezu shouting at the two but otherwise making no effort to disentangle them.

“DAD! STOP!”

Shouta’s bloody clenched hand instantly halted, the man slowly turning to face Izuku. Beneath him, without the quirk cancellation effect of Erasure, All Might puffed up, shoving Aizawa off him, an irritated but confused expression on his face.

“I believe we should let Izuku head back inside to rest and hook his i.v. bag back up…” Nezu’s eyes twinkled with mischief “and we can all have a nice chat.” 

“Five years ago, I was on my way to one of the greatest battles I have ever faced, single-mindedly obsessing over getting to where I needed to be… when I was called down from the sky at an apartment complex fire” 

All Might, or Yagi Toshinori as he introduced himself, sat in one of three visitor chairs in Izuku’s treatment room, an ice pack pressed to his jaw to reduce leftover swelling after receiving some treatment from Recovery Girl. With a bit of prompting… some memories came flooding back “I was so quick to dismiss when the fireman said that there were no survivors-“

“That’s not what he said!” Izuku shouted through the mask, emotions clogging up his throat.

Shouta pressed a calming hand to his knee and gave him a soft reassuring smile before turning back to send All Might the most murderous glare possible. The man rightly cowered under it’s weight “I know but that’s what I wanted to hear because despite the horrific guilt, it was one life weighed against many.”

“So it didn’t matter that I was quirkless? That didn’t sway your decision?” Izuku whispered, pressing his fingertips together, eyes laser pointed on the hero

“No my boy-“ Aizawa growled at that making the blonde quickly track back “uh no young Aizawa… quirk or no, I thought… I hoped that with there being so many firefighters there, that it would work out ok… I just had to get to that fight. He’d already killed so many heroes, was the most powerful villain of all… I barely got out of the fight alive” Toshinori lifted his shirt, his dad beside him pulling back a little “I lost my stomach, my respiratory system was permanently damaged… over time I got weaker, thinner, barely able to keep my quirked form going for long periods of time-”

Izuku clenched his fist “But you beat him right?”

For the first time since sitting in the room, All Might sat up a little straighter “I did”

Izuku nodded and chewed on his lip before determination set alight in his eyes “All Might… you’re an idiot.”

The man coughed, spraying blood to the side from his mouth.

“While your actions on that night were negligent to a degree… I can understand what happened.” Izuku continued, quickly glancing to his father who, as he often did, looked proud “But today at the underpass… your actions were stupid. What if you’d dropped that bottle without realising? What about that villain’s rights?! I mean, he tried to kill me but still, trapping him in a bottle - you never think of calling the police? And then your lack of care for my wellbeing was appalling!”

He heard his dad huff in irritation but he carried on, voice beginning to raise “You instantly dismissed my distress by assuming I was more concerned about getting a damn picture with you, that’s the most egotistical, self absorbed crap I’ve ever heard! You should probably go back to school and learn a few things!”

He kept his eyes locked on Toshinori, enjoying the utter shock on the man’s face “I uhhh appreciate the honest feedback young man”

“Alright, my patient needs rest… and the remainder of his antibiotics and fluids…” Recover Girl came in the room, turning to look at All Might “Which is something he would have gotten at the hospital if you’d cared to take him there straight away!”

Izuku took a little pleasure in watching the woman bonk him on the head with her walking stick a few times. 

And now, despite the rattle in his lungs, he felt like he could breathe better than ever. Because really… there was only one more confrontation he had to tick off his list and that probably wasn’t coming for another ten months.

In July, Izuku decided not to have a crazy big party or grand trips to the arcade, he has family and friends over for dinner, smiling greatly when Haruto offers to give Shouto a lift home himself. But as he waved goodbye he became all too aware that with his dad passed out on the recliner from too much food, he was alone with Hitoshi, literally cuddled up on the couch with a blanket.

“Movie!” He blurted out, wincing and looking over to his dad who was still soundly asleep “Uhhh I mean… shall we watch a movie?” 

He laughed nervously as Hitoshi turned towards him, licking his lips free of the hot chocolate he’d just sipped. Izuku couldn’t help but watch the motion, gulping as he did.

“Sure Zu… what about uhmmmmm Ragnarok?”

Izuku perked up, it was a fun movie, action packed too, no romance, nothing to make things even more awkward “Sounds great Tosh!”

Except of course it was awkward because Izuku just effervesces gay panic and Hitoshi, the most desirable boy in existence was right next to him, firm thigh muscle pressed against his, strong rounded shoulders right by him, fluffy hair that he just wants to run his ringers through while he gazes into his gorgeous amethyst eyes-

Izuku’s breath caught in his lungs as soft warm fingers tentatively slid into his hand. It was slow moving, a little unsure and he didn’t know if he should hasten the move or just wait there but after what felt like a lifetime, Hitoshi’s hand finished pressing forward, fingers threaded with his.

‘We’re holding hands, holy shit we’re holding hands!! It feels like romantic hand holding, not just friends, this is… this is….’

“Oh I love this bit, where it slows down as the Valkyrie come down from the clouds… such a cool shot”

Izuku looked away from the screen that he was barely watching to his best friend. Hitoshi still has his eyes glued on the screen so he looked back and yeah… ‘flying horses, that is pretty cool’.

At that moment, his dad grumbled and sat up, pushing the recliner back upright. For a moment he looked like a confused little kitten but then his eyes narrowed as he spied the two of them, probably noticing Izuku’s deep flush. The man groaned and rubbed his face “I’m just going downstairs to make a phone call, Tosh are you staying tonight or heading home?”

“Uhh” 

Izuku felt the hand under the blanket squeeze a little tighter

“Can Toshi stay?” Izuku asked bravely, grateful for that blanket for hiding them but also hating it because he was six million degrees and probably on fire, he felt like he was on fire, he leant to the side and murmured very quietly “Toshi am I on fire?”

“Uhh no, you’re good”

Aizawa groaned again and got up “I’ll go clear out my room downstairs… I’ll sleep on the couch here”

When the man got to the bottom of the stairs, disappearing out of earshot, Izuku faced Hitoshi “He did the same thing with Haruto and Megumi, keeping them two floors apaaaaaaa- not that we’re dating!” He panicked mid sentence, attempting to clarify and practically hissing with how rushed his whispers were. 

But he noticed Hitoshi’s eyes looked a little less bright and began to stutter “I-I I mean we, I’d love-“ pausing to literally yelp before continuing “I mean I’d like! I-I”

“Izuku!” Hitoshi pulled his hands up (Izuku lamented losing the comforting grip) and grabbed his cheeks. He didn’t say anything else for a moment, just squishing and unsquishing them before taking a deep breath “Izuku… I’ve liked you for… forever”

‘Don’t cry don’t cry’

“Hit-oshi” 

‘Oh of fucking course my voice would break mid-name’

Izuku cleared his throat “I like you too”

Right at that moment, he heard the downstairs bedroom door bang into the wall lightly, rapidly followed by the slightly-louder-than-usual thumping up the stairs of his dad. The two scooted backwards, putting some distance between them but both smiling shyly at each other.

The second his dad rounded the corner, he looked at them, sighed and went over to the coffee machine. Izuku couldn’t help but let out a little giggle, he was overcome with happiness anyway so he couldn’t contain it.

The rest of the night, although a little awkward with his dad watching them like a hawk went smoothly. The moment they said goodnight, the two stared longer than necessary before Aizawa literally came over and gently but repeatedly shoved him towards the stairs leading up to his room.

When he came down in the morning, Haruto was in the kitchen, cooking some fluffy pancakes with Coffee Bean on his shoulder. 

“Give me bean, what if pretty kitty fell in the frying pan?” his dad cooed to the cat as he plucked her off Haruto’s shoulder “Little princess, you come and sit with me.”

“Hmmmmorning” Izuku mumbled as he padded into the room

“Morning Zu, want some pancakes? Megumi is at work this morning so I came over to see how you’re feeling after what was probably a suuuuper awkward -boys in love- but -boys are pining wimps- night”

“Shurrup ‘Ruto… you were no better with M’gumi” 

His dad snorted a little laugh from the recliner “He’s got you there brat”

“I am NOT a brat! I am a DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN!”

“Can we like not… do this… thing” Izuku made circular motions in front of himself, looking between them both with a miserable expression.

“Dad said you were both confessing last night-“

“Haruto” Aizawa warned but had the decency to look a little ashamed for gossiping 

“I’m going downstairs to wake Tosh, you two suck”

Before he even managed to get down the first step his dad was adding “Door open!”

‘Arrrghhhhhhhhhh!’

That friday lunchtime, Izuku sat on the school roof with Hitoshi, the wind blowing through his hair “Hitoshi… can I tell you something?”

The teen turned to him with a slight frown “Izuku, hey… you can tell me anything, you know that right?”

“You know I’m adopted… well… I want to tell you what happened…”

It had been a difficult chat, especially with the constraints of school lunch time but at the end of it, the purple haired teen pulled him into a deep but tender hug and it just felt so perfect… the talk had been so good to get off his chest. He even went into details that he hadn’t with his dad… namely the things involving one Katsuki Bakugou.

“So you think he’s going to be at UA?” Hitoshi asked as they walked back into the building from the roof access

“I have no doubt Kac- Bakugou will be there. I just don’t know if I should tell dad before”

“Look-“ Hitoshi grabbed his hand, gently pulling him to a stop “If by some miracle he’s changed, become an actual reasonable human being instead of a bullying boil on the ass of society-“ Izuku giggled, gripping that hand a little harder “then he deserves a chance to get into UA… so don’t tell Aizawa until after the acceptance letters go out, maybe even save it for the day before school starts so that he will have it fresh in his mind and keep the pukestain away from you”

He laughed even harder at that “Honestly where do you come up with some of these insults? And Tosh-“ He pulled the boy close so their chests were touching and damn, when did he get so bold?! “I appreciate that you automatically think I’ll get into UA… y-you… you-re the best”

And then they both blushed like idiots until the bell rang ten seconds later.

It took another week before Hitoshi ‘officially’ asked Izuku on a date… to the arcade. As he explained it to Haruto that night, the only difference between this and their normal trips to the arcade was that it was labelled as a date and therefore subjected Izuku to intense bouts of stomach cramping anxiety.

“I’ll make sure they don’t come harass you like they did on my first date. Big brother will keep you safe from the vultures” Haruto spat the last word as he glared at their dad, auntie Nemuri and uncle Zashi who were standing with crossed arms in the kitchen.

“Vultures!” Hisashi screeched “I am a majestic peaco-“ 

He didn’t manage to finish without a wheeze, bought forth by Nemuri elbowing him and predatorily walking forward “Izukuuuu” she purred “What are you wearing tonight? You have such pretty freckles, I wonder, have you considered lingerie-“

But she didn’t manage to finish before she was wrapped up in his dad’s capture scarf “FIFTEEN! HE IS FIFTEEN!”

Haruto took the chance to haul him over his shoulder and run up the stairs with him, quickly flinging some items out of the wardrobe at him. So he dressed rapidly, understanding that the three adults bred chaos and in that, they could slip away unscathed.

Haruto true to his word, kept everyone away and that night, he and Hitoshi enjoyed each other’s company… a little too much unfortunately, the two chatting endlessly and staying out far later than they meant to, thus missing the bus home, being ‘found’ by bang and getting escorted home. 

When they arrived at Izuku’s front door, the old man pulled them both together and looked them firmly in the eye “I am going to just turn around, walk away a few steps and check something on the street… I will take approximately one minute…” and then he added with a whisper “Use the time wisely because I don’t think you’ll be getting much free alone time from now on” and then he took off.

Izuku gaped at the man, or his back as he retreated away.

‘Use the time wisely…’

Izuku made a little choking noise then turned, grabbed Hitoshi’s shirt and yanked the teen towards himself, stopping with barely a centimetre between their lips. “Will you be my boyfriend Hitoshi?” 

The purple haired boy looked stunned but only for a second and then they both took the leap, softly pressing their lips together for a very sweet kiss.

‘My first kiss on my first date! My first kiss, my first kiss!’  

Izuku’s internal screaming was suddenly drowned out by the front door opening and the silence was even more deafening…  “Izuku Aizawa”

‘Oh shit’

Bang reappeared a second later “Come on Hitoshi, I’ll walk you home.”

Summer came to an end with with little fanfare, autumn disappeared in the blink of an eye and with a tickling sneeze, the icy temperatures of winter were upon them. On Christmas morning, Izuku opened his presents with his family then scooted up to his room to open more with Hitoshi on a video call. 

“How did you even get Eraserhead merch? Izuku, Zu, zuuu, Zuku, you are a star, the best boyfriend, my sweetheart, my angel” Hitoshi cuddled his pyjama onesie themed after his dad’s hero costume.

Izuku at this point was blushing so hard because while the two had hugged… a lot, held hands a lot, kissed quite a few times… he never failed to get embarrassed or blush like an idiot when Hitoshi complimented him.

It was beautiful, Hitoshi was perfect, everything he was before, but his kind and caring nature was heightened by lingering touches and gentle cuddles. Despite them only being young, emotions were flying high and Izuku embraced it with everything he had. To put it simply… he was in love.

A couple of months later Haruto turned twenty and the family spent the whole day at his and Megumi’s apartment. With Hitoshi’s help, he snuck Cardboard Present Mic around and hid it inside Haruto’s wardrobe. 

In hindsight… it was probably a little dumb since the white haired man got ridiculously drunk. 

…

“I can’t believe you set his Mic arm on fire. I’ll never forgive you” Izuku glared as his brother passed the singed cardboard cut out back to him.

“In my defence…” Haruto scratched his cheek, trying to cover his slight discomfort “I didn’t expect him to fall out - onto my face - from my wardrobe… while I was drunk… and naked”

“You’re dead to me”

Izuku walked through the front gate of UA, nervous to the point of nausea, with his boyfriend by his side “You ready for this Tosh?”

“Not even slightly” the purple haired teen said, holding his hand.

“Same”

The two were at the high school a bit early having being dropped by his dad as he drove past to go around the back to the car park, so while there were other students, it wasn’t super busy yet.

It was the day he’d been waiting for, a day he dreamed about as a child before it all went wrong, a day that had been reinstalled into his grand ambitions after he moved in with his dad and got his quirk under control.

The UA entrance exam.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t take the recommendation exam… you’re crazy.”

“Nah… crazy would be going against kids who ALL have pro-heroes in their corner” he turned to look behind him and vaguely wave an arm “I’d rather be here with all the normal kids like-“

Izuku didn’t finish the sentence because right there, just twenty feet away, shoulders hunched, irritated scowl on his face… was Katsuki Bakugou.

Chapter Text

Izuku was pretty sure he’d never turned around so fast in his life, but there he was, staring directly at Shinsou in front of him, pupils dilated in panic. Behind him, Katsuki Bakugou was making his way up the path towards the entrance of the building. 

Hitoshi blinked, a little confused at the abrupt stop and turn, when he looked back and Izuku and took in his posture and blatant stress, he looked over his shoulder, eyebrows raising a little in recognition.

Of course Izuku had described the blonde when telling his story, he was grateful for that now because in all honesty, he wasn’t sure he could even speak. It was just the shock of seeing him… he’d expected it in the exam hall or in the atrium before the practical exam, he would have had time to mentally prep himself, but to randomly see him when his guard was down. It was a lot.

Staring into Hitoshi’s pretty (and very concerned) eyes, he felt grounded. He was surprised he wasn’t having a panic attack or something but, like his brother, he knew it was time to confront old fears… just, maybe not right before an exam… possibly the most important exam of his life so far, definitely the most important exam of his life so f-

“Hey” Hitoshi whispered “Relax, he probably wouldn’t recognise you.”

And really, Toshi was right. It had been about seven years at this point and for all Bakugou knew, Izuku was dead - he went to his funeral! Izuku was also taller (not as tall as he’d like but still) and had his hair in a bun with his close shaved undercut. He always wore red shoes… but they were very different red high tops from what he wore when he was young… there was no way he’d remember him… surely….

By now, the blonde was just behind him, because while it felt like it had been a goddamn hour or something, it had just been a few seconds. But then the boy’s steps faltered, his pace slowing and it wasn’t just Hitoshi’s narrowed glare that let him know that Katsuki was looking at him.

“Tch” 

The steps picked back up and Izuku practically melted into the floor with relief once the thudding faded away. 

Yes he was ready for a confrontation… but not right now… maybe later.

“So that was him huh?” Hitoshi asked as he rubbed and squeezed Izuku’s shoulders “Seemed like a miserable buttwipe to me”

“Yuuuuup”

Hitoshi slipped his hand into his, giving a light squeeze “He was staring pretty hard, probably trying to reconcile the conflicting opinions in his head”

Izuku grunted but didn’t say anything else, ready to put the almost encounter behind him.

Once inside the building, he was happy to discover that Hitoshi and other kids from his school were in a different exam hall to Bakugou. While he was (mostly) optimistic that he’d be able to ignore him and focus on the written portion, he couldn’t pretend that it took a load off his shoulders. 

The test was easy, for someone who had spent so long learning from Nezu, his dad and his brother, regular school work was a walk in the park. Hitoshi grumbled as they left the hall and headed for the atrium, Izuku was confident in his boyfriend’s academic ability but he had come to understand that the teen just hated exams and was probably worried about the upcoming practical.

“Haruto had robots right? And just collected points by destroying them” Hitoshi whispered

Izuku looked around to make sure there weren’t any other teens listening. “Yeah and while the entrance exam has been different every year, I have a strong suspicion that it will be robots again. I think Nezu wants to compare me and my brother.”

Hitoshi sighed as they reached the doors, stepping across to the side “I can’t use my quirk on robots”

“Oh come on Tosh, neither can Midnight, or Ms Joke or my dad! You didn’t go get all these hot muscles to just rely on your quirk did you?” Izuku’s ears got extremely warm all of a sudden. And the way Hitoshi’s eyes widened for a split second and the most delicious blush spread-

‘Izuku, focus.’

An announcement came over the tannoy saving him from awkwardly insisting that Hitoshi deserved all the compliments in the world, all the while wanting to pin him against the wall and-

‘Hnhidsklcsdklbcjdbd’

“Come on lets go inside, for someone so innocent you sure do get a dark look in your eyes at times Zu”

‘Hjfhsjkfgdjskjdbwknd’

While he was grateful for the different exam rooms, Izuku felt an instant chill on his neck as he walked across his designated row, only about two from the front. He knew Katsuki was behind him somewhere, but it was dark. So long as he didn’t call attention to himself, everything would be fine.

Hitoshi sat by his side eventually slipping his fingers into his hand and giving a calming squeeze to ground them both. After a few minutes, the sea of chatter in the room quietened and Izuku couldn’t help the smile that spread when Present Mic walked in the room - of course, to him he was just uncle Hizashi but when the man was in his full hero costume, exuding this excitable persona, he was the man pictured in his *slightly charred* cardboard cut out. Despite looking up to him and treasuring him as family, the blonde was still a celebrity and Izuku always got excited when he got to experience that side of the man.

“Welcome to today’s live performance!!” Hizashi’s exuberant voice echoed through the room, the energy it contained was infectious to Izuku and he beamed brightly at the hero.

“Everybody say HEY!”

In hindsight, it was rather ridiculous given his desire to stay largely un-noticed but really, he just couldn’t help himself.

Cupping his hands up to his face, the teen bellowed out “HEEEEY!” in response.

And he was the only one in the room to do so, resulting in his stomach dropping like a stone. But Mic looked thrilled, practically screaming “YEEEAHHHH!! THATS MY NEPHEW!!! I LOVE IIIIIT!!”

Everyone in the room kind of cringed but Izuku chuckled, it was goddamn adorable so he relaxed his shoulders and sat back casually in his seat, pointedly ignoring the eyes boring into the back of his head, especially the intimidating red ones.

As Hizashi continued to babble about the details of the exam, Izuku leant over towards his boyfriend, whispering in his ear about different combat arenas, it was obvious they would be separated but he was curious-

“And you with the green curly hair!”

‘Wtf’

The robotically limbed obnoxious student a few rows behind him continued his torrent of berating “You’ve been whispering this whole time! If you don’t take this seriously-

“Woah there listener” Izuku sighed in relief, for a second there he was worried he would have to turn around and give that jerk a piece of his mind, thus highlighting him to certain room members even more. He would absolutely have to do something special for Hizashi now “-the green bean there does take it seriously so let’s not act all authoritative when you’re just another student like everyone else ok?”

‘Heh’

“And as for your question about the bots, that fourth one is worth zero points, essentially its just an obstacle.”

Fifteen minutes later Izuku was standing at the gates to one of the mock city zones, wearing his undervest and shorts to easily transition between using his quirk and not. A careful look around when he’d first arrived led him to believe that Bakugou wasn’t in his area, again something that was probably orchestrated by Nezu or his father, there were 6 zones after all. Unfortunately the aggressive guy from the hall was there so he kept his head down, slyly assessing the other students. 

A guy with a smarmy smile and too much hair gel ‘self confident or just a show? Must have some kind of visually impressive quirk’

Some dude with a big cone on his forehead ‘I wonder if it releases some kind of sonic pulse, the patterns on it are interesting’

A girl with a brown bob, soft pink cheeks… ‘she’s concentrating, perhaps trying to calm herself, maybe her quirk has a drawback’

A firm hand gripped his shoulder “You’re not thinking of going over there and interrupting her are you? She’s obviously meditating or something. Why are you even here? Hoping to-“

Izuku spun with a vitriolic stare, backhanding the offending appendage away “Don’t touch me, don’t insinuate, don’t act like you know a damn thing about me”

The guy pulled back in shock, but then Izuku did learn how to glare from the best. Before he could say anything else, Present Mic bellowed “…And BEGIN!”

Izuku didn’t hesitate, taking off like a shot in his falcon form, gliding gracefully through the air. Behind him, he could hear his uncle prattling on about people running and getting started but with the wind whistling and the metallic clanking sound of robots ahead, he paid it no mind, instead focussing on the target less than 10m in front of him.

Razor sharp claws heated to the hottest temperature he could muster sliced through the metal of the three pointer like a hot knife through butter. And it was perfect. If Izuku had a voice in this form, people probably would have thought he was some kind of mad scientist, his manic cackles would be echoing through the concrete jungle.

After calming down a touch he flew to the next one, and the next and the next. 

‘This is fun!’

Izuku wasn’t even bothering to count, he just flew around with a freedom he’d never experienced before. Sure he’d soared around the gyms of UA while training, even flown around the fields here with Hawks and lets not forget that one time he’d taken off in a panic to his old apartment - but he was barely aware of what was going on back then, too consumed by distress and grief to get a feel for the situation. Now though, to be in a city environment, to glide on the hot air around sharp bends, attacking these bots without a care in the world…

‘WOOOOO- Huh?’

His internal whooping was cut off by a loud rumbling noise so he quickly deactivated his quirk, jogging away from the partially melted two point robot and skidding to a stop in the centre of the main road.

“Oh wow” he whispered, eying the frankly ridiculous sized robot looming over the other end of the street.

Around him everyone was running away but Izuku stood there staring… ‘what if someone was hurt? UA would make sure that wouldn’t happen, right?…’

The longer he stared the more things he saw, like the boy limping as he ran, the panicked girl crying and hiding behind the telephone box to his right… someone shouting for help?

Izuku took off in a sprint towards the zero pointer, seeing to his side a girl with vine like hair grabbing the crying girl. On his way he saw the aggressive boy with glasses skid to a halt to look at him incredulously so he quickly spun and grabbed his arm “Help that boy with the limp back there!”

And then he started running again, ignoring the teen splutter something in his wake.

“I’m coming!” He yelled stopping to find the brunette from the start trapped under some concrete - directly in the path of the coming machine.

His mind went blank for a second, should he try use something to help pull her out or attack the robot… he didn’t really think he had the surface area to melt through the metal to get to the circuitry fast enough. But he had to try.

Clenching his fists in determination he started to run towards the machine ‘I can do this’

Feeling the pulse of energy from his quirk surge from within him, it reminded him of when Haruto told him that his quirk pushed out, coursing through him in a rapid flood towards his hands… finally he could relate, except it didn’t just rush to his hands, it pushed out everywhere.

When the transformation finished he could flap the biggest wings he’d ever had… and galloped with a thunderous roar.

He was a horse… a flying horse… a horse with wings like the Valkyrie rode.

‘Holy shit’

When he looked down he was big enough that he could see the hooves stamping with tremendous force, behind the flickering flames there was a deep green colour to his legs. He couldn’t wait to get in front of a mirror. Based on his height from the ground, he seemed to be a little larger than a typical stallion.

‘This is insane’

The revelation, while shocking and exciting also highlighted something he’d suspected for some time but it was something he had been trying not to think about. And in the middle of an exam while charging towards a probably 70m tall robot. ‘Now isn’t the time for starling realisations.’

He flapped his wings and took off, the power in this form was phenomenal, a flap of his large wings could create an intense hot gust of wind but he needed to focus. 

‘The gears around its neck, that looks like the best spot to target’

Izuku tucked his wings, locking his legs straight in front with his hooves together and pushing the intensity of his flame to the hottest he could get. Based on the exclamations from below him he was sure he must be a startling bluish white colour, the air around him was rippling with heat, warping his vision a little. When he connected, he sunk in through the metal with surprising speed, knocking the giant machine back a little. He could barely see but based on the screeching noise and fizzing of electronics, Izuku was sure his plan had worked. 

It only took a second or two at most and he was melting out of the other side, flapping his glorious wings and looping around the now stalled robot. Whilst descending, he cooled his fire as much as possible, mentally reaching out to suck his quirk back in and turn back to regular Izuku about 2m off the ground.

“Are you ok miss?” He called out, running over towards her (after his rather boastful superhero style landing) “Your leg, can I help?” 

The girl, whilst appearing to be a little green and nauseous had an awestruck look on her face.

“AAAAAND TIMES UP!” Mic’s voice echoed from the speakers with a tinny quality to the sound. While for some it probably created a moment intense disappointment, stress or perhaps panic, he was just glad it was over so he could go see Hitoshi. 

The sound of the girl struggling to get up focused him back to the present “Oh damn I’m sorry, please let me help” he scrambled over and hunched himself under her arm, grabbing it and looping it over his shoulder.

“Wh-“ she stopped and swallowed what sounded like a deep wretch “Why are you saying sorry, you saved me! Your magical horse quirk- you took down that huge- I’m so-“ she yanked away heaping herself over a large concrete slab to throw up.

“Alright dearies, you’ve all done such a wonderful job” Recovery girl was walking over with a small smile on her face “Take these gummies if you need a bit of a stamina perk up- oh! Izuku are you alright?”

“Yes umm, this girl here has an injured leg”

The old lady chuckled “ah very well, now off you go, here’s a gummy, I’m sure you’re desperate to see your friend. Your father has to stay to go over the footage but I’m sure he’s bursting with pride.”

Izuku broke into a bright uncontained smile and set off with a jog, quickly calling back to say goodbye to the brunette and the nurse.

“TOSHHHHIIIIIIIIIIII!!!” He practically screamed as he ran towards the gate where his boyfriend was waiting. 

The boy turned with a coy smile, looking around a little at the several students now staring right at him. But with a slight puff of his chest, Hitoshi opened his arms and dramatically caught his boyfriend who sailed through the air.

“Toshi Toshi! Toshitoshitoshi” The green haired teen pulled back, grabbed his blushing boyfriend’s shoulders and began to shake him “Tosh I turned into a flying horse, Tosh a flying horse, flying horse, a horsewithwings Toshitoshi!”

“Alright!!! Jeez stop shaking me you maniac!!” Hitoshi chuckled before bursting out into full blown laughing when Izuku pouted “So… a flying horse?”

“Yeah” Once his excitement calmed down he saw the other boy staring deeply into his eyes. Damn he wished he could kiss him… probably not the best idea at school though. Plus he suddenly realised exactly what was about to happen “I ummm… can we talk? Like on the way home?”

Hitoshi eyed him a little suspiciously but nodded and held out his arm (with his hand in his pocket) for Izuku to loop his hand through.

“I’m kinda glad dad is going to be a bit late home to be honest-“

“Izuku Aizawa, trying to get into my pants at the tender age of fifteen, tut tut, what woul-“ 

The furiously blushing teen shoved his hands on Hitoshi’s mouth to shut him up, softening when the boy’s eyes crinkled with mirth “Stooooop… I just, I dunno, it’ll be nice to cuddle without being watched”

Hitoshi kissed his hands before gently slinging an arm over his shoulder so they could continue their walk “Being glared at is more accurate in my case”

“Heh yeah” Izuku looked up to the afternoon sky, the clouds were moving surprisingly fast as the afternoon breeze moved in “I wanted to talk to you about my quirk… something I’d come to realise over time, but I guess it was something I didn’t want to acknowledge because of the implications for things that happened in the past”

His boyfriend pulled him closer, leaning over to press a soft kiss into his hair just in front of the bun “That sure was a lot of words to paint an empty picture”

Izuku pushed out all the air in his body with a whoosh before gulping in another lungful “Every time I’ve managed to manifest a new creature, its been the result of an interaction with you, the person who I’m in love with”

He felt the way Hitoshi’s steps faltered a little. It was obvious he loved the boy and there had been plenty of ‘oh I love that about you’ or ‘you look lovely’ or ‘I’ve loved spending time with you today’… but really, that was the first real confession, the first time he’d actually said the words. It felt right. He just wished it didn’t come with an exception.

He didn’t give the other teen chance to really appreciate the admission, instead he continued towards the real goal of the conversation “The Falcon was from our trip together at the zoo, I remember looking over at your smiling face and being so happy, sooo damn happy that I had a real friend who cared about me. Then there was the Hummingbird when you asked me to call you Hitoshi. And the Harpy Eagle was at the zoo when I said your parents sucked-“

“And I said it was ok though because I had you.” Hitoshi finished with a gentle smile.

Izuku nuzzled into his neck, their walking pattern wobbled around a bit but neither one wanted to be separated so they just clung on a bit tighter.

“Then you held my hand while we watched Thor and damn if my heart wasn’t going to explode out of my chest.”

It went quiet then, the implication laid out bare.

“So your butterfly…”

Izuku pulled back, keeping his arm looped in and hugging him close, but no longer hiding in his neck “When Kac-Bakugou pulled me out of the way of that truck, in that moment… I felt so special, I felt loved. There I was cradling this sweet, beautiful butterfly and Ka- he, he saved me because I thought he cared about me. And this was the great Katsuki Bakugou, lauded by all, so spectacular with his magnificent quirk. I always wondered if he would be able to use it to fly one day, he would make such an amazing hero, everyone said it… and there he was, being my hero. Honestly there were probably stars in my eyes at that moment. That was really when my quirk came in… it just didn’t activate until I was sleeping.”

Hitoshi looked like he’d chewed something unpleasant but was clearly trying to shake it and support him “He didn’t deserve your love”

“I know… and its not the same love, it was just admiration I guess… I was only eight” Izuku smiled softly as he looked into Hitoshi’s pretty lavender coloured eyes.

“Hmmm yeah… I guess I’ll let you off then” The teen smirked and Izuku was happy to admit that it kind of made him melt a little. Any anxiety over the conversation they’d had, trickled away and he could return back to that giddy excitement over his latest transformation.

“I took down the zero pointer by the way”

…

“WHAT!?” Hitoshi swirled around, gripping his shoulders as Izuku chuckled at his theatrics “No no, you’re not allowed to be all like ‘I’m in love with you’ then immediately be all ‘here’s a big serious conversation’ and I didn’t want to interrupt the moment but I love you too-“ he quickly covered Izuku’s mouth with his big (damn its so bag) hand “No squeaking or doing other adorable things to interfere bunny-” the protests behind the hand picked up even more “But the zero pointer was the size of a fucking multi-storey building!! ARE YOU INSANE!?”

The rest of the walk home was filled with a rambling account of what happened in the entire exam for Izuku and a very short version from Hitoshi that sounded like ‘Yeah I mostly pulled people out of harms way, grabbed some metal from a downed robot and used that to smash some more, it was alright.’

Half an hour later, the two were semi-concious, tangled up in a cuddle, lying over the three seat couch, Tuna on Izuku’s back as he rested his head on Hitoshi’s chest. He was too exhausted to react when he heard the front door open and two sets of steps come quietly up the stairs.

“Awww look… I don’t know if I should send a picture to Nem or try push a bible between the two” Haruto’s gravelly deep voice mocked from overhead, Megumi chuckling by his side.

Hitoshi’s reply resonated through his chest, rumbling in a delicious low tone “As if you two shit heads were any better”

“Go away Ruto, m’tired, ‘ntrance exam… turned into h-“ Izuku cut himself off, flinging upright is fast he was instantly dizzy and was eternally grateful that Hitoshi grabbed his hips to steady him “I TURNED INTO A FUCKING FLYING HORSE!”

Chapter Text

Flashback - Two weeks before the entrance exam

Shouta pushed open the door to the meeting room of UA, large cup of steamy coffee in his hand to drive away the exhaustion of a 4am quirk emergency. It was rare for him to be called out these days but then again, there were no other quirks quite like his. He breathed in the scent, enjoying the deep aroma of the extra espresso shot he’d added. Maybe today wasn’t going to suck after all. Looking up, he saw the usual staff members sitting around the large conference table, all seeming to be casual despite the ‘compulsory’ nature of the gathering.  But then he noted the extra addition.

All Might… puffed up All Might.

Wow, looked like today was going to suck after all.

“Ah Mr Aizawa, so glad you’re here. I heard about your overnight heroics and told everyone you may be a moment or two late” Nezu gathered the paperwork in front of him and cleared his throat “I’ve called you all in today to announce the latest addition to our teaching staff-“

‘No… oh please no-‘

“All Might”

Shouta let his head fall down, face painfully slamming into the wooden desk. Nemuri and Hizashi quietly chuckled while All Might gasped “My goodness, Mr Aizawa are you alright”

He didn’t lift up, groaning a little before speaking rather gravelly “I’d like to have a word at the end of the meeting… privately”

Forty minutes later, the mundane meeting came to a close and Shouta sat glaring at the hero, wordlessly expressing that he should stay for the “little chat” at the end.

Once everyone was out, he sighed and leant back in his chair, staring at the ceiling as he often does in times where he might struggle with coherency (or irritation… or violence).

“Mr Aizawa, I assure you-“

“Why?” Shouta cut All Might off “Why now? And you might as well turn back into small might.”

With a little puff of steam, the skinny version of the hero… the real version appeared. “Ah well… as you know, I struggle to keep my quirked form active. What you don’t know is that it’s getting worse. I’m down to three hours a day and I need to choose a successor”

Shouta frowned, looking over to the Principle to see if he understood. Of course the damn rat just carried on smiling like a cheeky shit.

“I don’t-“

“My quirk… its a little different from others…”

By the end of their extended meeting, Shouta walked out, mind a little blown but content with the multiple reassurances that All Might would keep that ticking time bomb away from his son. Toshinori also said that Izuku’s words had greatly impacted him and during his time at UA, he was hoping to learn and improve in the areas that he was lacking. 

The only problem (as well as All Might’s lack of teaching experience or qualification) was that Nezu forbade him from telling Izuku. The kid was in for a hell of a shock and he would inevitably be pissed at him. But he would be able to remedy it somehow… Hopefully.

End flashback

The long, multi monitored viewing room, was already full of UA’s teaching staff, ready for the practical section of the entrance exams. Nezu had purposely sat Shouta at the opposite end of the room to where the screens showing Izuku’s section were. Damn rat.

Time was dragging by and as the students began lining up at the gates to each zone, he kept leaning back on his seat, desperate to get a peek of his son.

“And how is everything looking in YOUR section Mr Aizawa” Nezu smiled dangerously. He wants to kill that rat sometimes.

Shouta sunk into his seat, mumbling “Looks fine, kids are lined up.” 

“Oh Shouta!” Nemuri’s high voice was like nails down a chalk board. He crossed his arms grumpily as she continued “You look like a toddler who just received their toast in triangles instead of squares”

He quickly grabbed a pen from the desk and flung it, smirking as it bounced off her forehead.

Present Mic’s voice boomed over the speakers signalling the start and despite his great desire to peek back, he leant forward onto his elbows and watched the four monitors in front of him. The students were off in a flash. A girl with hands that grew large was barrelling forward beside a boy with explosive palms. His eyes flitted down to the A3 sized sheets in front of him with small pictures, name and quirk. The girl was called Itsuka Kendo, her quirk was probably quite suited for the task if used correctly. She probably needed to watch out for injuries from punching metal though.

When he looked back up he caught a different blonde boy swinging off a lamp post and delivering a devastating kick to a two pointer. Good form. Shouta looked back down at the pictures. Mashirao Ojiro, quirk: Tail. Looks like he’d had some martial arts training. 

‘What in the-‘ Shouta knew Izuku would find this kid fascinating. Again he looked down, Manga Fukidashi, quirk: Comic. 

Hizashi entered the room, excitedly running over to Nemuri’s screen and screeching “Ah Izuku is doing so well!! Look at him go!!!”

Pride swelled in his chest. When his eyes flickered back to the screen, he saw the same exploding hand blonde from the start. He watched the boy, something sparking in his memory that he couldn’t quite place. The more he watched, the more he realised that while powerful, the kid was arrogant as hell. Probably has an equally explosive personality he thought. And that’s when he remembered. The boy from the house hunting, the one who back chatted his mother and acted like a real brat. He could feel himself scowling at the screen. As he lowered his eyes to the paper for a name, Nezu informed everyone it was time.

“Already?” He mumbled, literally feeling the vibrations from the zero pointers beginning their rampage.

He watched as the kids in his zone ran like rats scurrying away from danger, the odd one or two stopping to pull someone up as they went-

“AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”

“Christ Zashi keep your goddamn quirk under control” Snipe griped, rubbing his ears

“Shouta!! Izuku turned into a flying horse!! OHHH MY GOOOOOD!!” 

‘What?!’

He got up so quickly his chair flung out behind him. Abandoning his post and running over, Shouta barged through, literally knocking skinny All Might on his ass (ha!)

And then he laid eyes on Izuku just as he flapped his glorious wings and took off into the air. It was such a phenomenal sight to behold.

“Well” Nezu rubbed his grubby little paws beside him “this is quite interesting”

“Sho” Hizashi began twiddling his moustache “He can turn into anything that flies… anything… this… the possibilities.” The blonde turned and grabbed his shoulders, trying to get his attention despite knowing Shouta’s eyes were glued to the screen “has he ever seen Never Ending Story? Its got like a giant flying dog”

Nemuri hummed “Nah it doesn’t have wings, and isn’t it like a cross between a lizard and a dog?”

“What!? No?! What the-“

“Shut up idiots” he groaned “there has to be an emotional connection to either the creature or the moment Izuku sees it” he took an incredibly deep breath and sighed “and that emotional connection seems to mostly come from his boyfriend”

Nemuri chuckled at the way he gritted out that last word.

The four of them stayed fixed on the screen, watching Izuku glide down and turn off his quirk. It really was a beautiful sight and he didn’t care how damn soft he probably looked right now. He was very much looking forward to getting home and congratulating his son for a job well done.

Several hours later, Shouta walked into a noisy house. He could hear both his sons (and their other halves) laughing and talking. It filled his chest with a deep warmth that he knew he would miss when the time came for Izuku to move into his own place. 

“Dabiiiiii come on baby!”

‘Oh great, Takami is here’

When he rounded the top of the stairs, Izuku was sat in Hitoshi’s lap on the recliner, Megumi was laid out with Tuna and Coffee Bean on the couch, Haruto was in the kitchen with Takami - fighting the blonde off by way of towering height difference.

“Gimme the doughhhhhh” the winged hero jumped up flapping his wings a little to try get the tube of uncooked cookie dough

“Ah-ah, no cheating short stack, I’ll turn them feathers nice ’n’ crispy”

“Hotwings!!” Izuku shouted cheerfully from the recliner “Hey remember you suggested that for my quirk n- OH!” He quickly jumped up off his boyfriend’s lap, blushing fiercely “Hey dad!!”

Shouta didn’t say a word, simply laid a full glare at Hitoshi who suspiciously tugged down his jumper.

“DABI!” Hawks squawked “DOUGH!!”

“Don’t call him that” Shouta mumbled as he made his way towards the coffee machine

Izuku piped up, all smiles “Why? I think Dabi is a cool name”

Haruto dodged Keigo and tossed the cookie dough to Megumi, opening his arms theatrically to match his smug grin “Yeah dad, Dabi is a coooool name”

“Unlike Eraserhead” mumbled the blonde.

Shouta rolled his eyes, placing the coffee mug under the tap of the machine and turned just in time to see Hitoshi holding in a laugh.

‘Oh really?’

“Izuku…” he paused to fake a sniff at his uniform “can you run up and gather your dirty clothes, I can add it to my stuff to wash”

“Oh! Sure thing dad!” The naive boy skipped off, taking two steps at a time. 

The second the boy was in his room, he turned his dagger filled look back on Hitoshi… he was sure he’d already given him a vague chat and yet here he was, giving another shovel talk.

A bunch of ‘oooooh’s’ echo around the room. Megumi dived off the couch, cookie dough in his pocket, cats on each shoulder and slunk into the kitchen where his boyfriend and Takami were fighting to hold in a laugh.

“Umm Mr Aizawa…”

Before he gets another word in, there’s a yell from upstairs, followed by an extremely loud crashing noise. Barely a second later, Izuku is tumbling down the stairs with pieces of wood stuck in the hood of his jumper.

Haruto bursts out laughing, pocketing his phone, grabbing his ribs and curling forward to cry with hysterics “Did -hahah- did you!! -pahaha- literally smash through y-hahahh your door?!”

“DAD!!! NO!!” The teen screeched, skidding to a halt at the edge of the room.

Satisfied by the sweat beading on Hitoshi’s brow, he turned his sharp gaze on his eldest son “Haruto did you text him?”

“You’re damn straight I did… you know dad, when you find someone you like, we-“ Haruto walked over to Izuku, plucking the piece of pinewood door between his fingertips and tossing it behind him before putting an arm around the teen’s shoulder “We will terrorise you… terrorise”

 “Yeah!” Izuku growled (like an adorable little kitten) and crossed his arms. 

Shouta rolled his eyes, because as if that was going to happen “Well if the door is smashed up I don’t need to tell you to keep it open anymore. So-” he rubbed his hands together “-What are we eating for celebratory dinner tonight?”

After ordering takeout, everyone chatted about the Entrance Exam. Shouta obviously couldn’t discuss it from a behind the scenes/teacher perspective but he was very proud of Izuku’s heroic actions and his incredible transformation. After everyone left and it was just the two (plus Tuna), Izuku went into detail about his theories on his evolving transformations. When Shouta asked for more detail on the “kacchan” from the stories, the teen shook his head, saying it wasn’t time yet.

Just as Izuku began to ascend the stairs to go to bed, he turned “Thanks for chatting with me… and believing in me and giving me time to say the things that I need to say and… and for being a great dad”

Shouta felt an intense sensation lance through his chest, making him swallow thickly “Of course son, I love you”

Izuku nodded “Love you too dad”

And then he skipped off up the stairs as if he hadn’t just given Shouta one of the most emotional moments of his life.

The next two weeks flickered out of sight like a low frame rate animation. Shouta knows the time that Izuku will find out about ‘Teacher All Might’ is drawing near and he’s honestly more nervous about that than spending the next two hours arguing with Vlad about which students go in class A and which go in class B.

“I want this guy in my class” Kan passed forward the page titled Neito Monoma “I think he’s a great prospect, just think about how many quirks he could master, he’s got potential to be an incredible leader, coordinating people with in depth understanding of their own quirks”

“Sure fine, obviously I want Izuku, Shouto and… why is Hitoshi stapled to this… who is this Mineta Mi-“

“Ah” Nezu cut in “Toss that away. They both got the same score but Mineta Minoru was involved in an incident with a female student. He won’t be attending UA.”

He pulled the staple out and crumpled the offending sheet, tossing it in the waste paper bin behind him “Izuku, Shouto and Hitoshi - all in my class”

“No problem Mr Aizawa, although with you getting some very powerful quirks, there is a caveat.” Nezu slid forward a sheet “You will also have Katsuki Bakugou in your class”

Shouta frowned as he reviewed the paper… Aldera Elementary (before closure) and Aldera Middle School… Ka…

“No”

“Then you lose Izuku to Kan”

Shouta curled his fingers into tight almost painful fists, he didn’t often want to murder people… but sometimes…

“Fine”

Another week later, was the moment he’d been waiting for… and very much not looking forward to.

“Welcome to Your Hero Academia” the voice finished booming out

Izuku turned away from the projection to give the kind of glare that would have turned lesser men into stone. “Dad” he said with a deathly calm voice that was so cold it sent chills up his spine “Why didn’t you tell me this clown was coming to teach at UA”

Shouta rubbed his face.

That night, the whole family went for a celebration dinner, Hitoshi, Bang (and his now Fiancé Kaori), the Todoroki’s, Hizashi and Nemuri included (but not Gojo, because he still fucking hated that guy). Izuku was quick to forgive his father but did say he would be having words with Nezu (a prospect he found amazing) and everyone had a fantastic time. For once, he was actually really excited about teaching this years class. It was going to be great.

Haruto came and sat next to Izuku on the couch, passing hot chocolates to Shouta (it was dark chocolate and laced with coffee) and the freckled teen. “So what did you want to talk about little Zu”

Izuku took a deep breath, using the air to blow on the hot drink “At the entrance exam I saw someone from my past.”

Shouta sat up a little more, resting his elbows on his knees and listening intently.

“The Kacchan from my butterfly incident is the same boy begrudgingly who went to my funeral with his mother, he’s the same boy who beat me up in the park for defending a kid, he’s the same person who gave me the name Deku. He was my best friend for… a while and then he was my bully. I saw him at the entrance exam. I kinda hid my face, I don’t know if he’d recognise me after so many years anyway but I didn’t want to take the chance so I turned away and… Hitoshi said he was staring.” He took a sip of his drink, licking the cream from his lip and nudging his brother in silent ‘thanks this is yummy’.

“I know he will get in, he was academically smart and his quirk is very destructive so the entrance exam would have been a breeze.”

Shouta grumbled “Did he ever use his quirk on you?”

“Ah not exactly-“ Izuku put his arms up to halt Shouta’s feral growl “- a few explosive punches, trashed my school work a bit and he singed my clothes a fair bit but he wasn’t excessively violent, we were only young… I’m glad I didn’t end up at middle school with him though. Anyway, he didn’t do anything to risk his future in the number one spot, well with the teachers being so lenient with him, I’m not sure what he would have gotten away with…” the teen shook his head, grumbling about mumbling too much.

Shouta took the chance to intervene “Katsuki Bakugou”

Izuku froze, slowly turning his head to his dad, mouth slightly agape “h..h..”

“He is in the same class as you.” Shouta felt his head sink in shame. Damn rat! “Its probably a good thing that we talked about this so that you can prepare yourself-”

“Hey” Haruto butted in, putting his drink on the coffee table and grabbing Izuku’s chunky cheeks in his hand. When the two were face to face he stared with a look that bred determination “If I can face that shithead of a sperm donor, you can face some arrogant little brat. And if he gives you trouble, just turn into a horse and kick him out the fucking window”

“Right well lets not try get your brother expelled on the first day” he scratched his beard looking between the two “And let go of his face, that looks uncomfortable”

“But dad, it’s so squishy.” Haruto whined, not letting go “If Ass-ski Buttugo is mean to you, stand up for yourself, don’t be trampled on and finally-“ he let go “-if he says anything particularly cruel, about the fire, your mother or where you went, you tell me and I’ll cremate him.”

Shouta sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose, watching slyly as Izuku threw himself into his brothers open arms.

The two boys curled up on the couch with blankets, flicking through tv stations while he sat at the kotatsu working his way down a depressingly long list of emails. He kept hearing the odd giggle and murmur from them.

“Boring” Haruto’s deep voice rasped

“I like nature shows”

“Boring…adverts… don’t like that… boring”

“Ruto stoooop… no wait what’s that?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve seen this! Look at these little dudes, he looks like you but with brown hair! PAHAHA! Oooof”

Shouta looked over to see Izuku grappling his older brother who chuckled wildly “Izuku… Izu-ughhh Izuku is a hobbit! You’re-“ Haruto held the teen in a headlock “You’re that dude, he’s all whiney!”

“DAD! Haruto is being mean”

*sigh*

He couldn’t help the little bubble of nostalgia he felt rising up “Its like you’re nine and thirteen all over again!”

“Yeah and you love it dad” the two looked over with equal smirks.

He slammed closed the laptop and got up… “Yeah I do” and he plopped himself in between them, smiling sweetly as they both shouted about getting squashed. 

“If I’m a hobbit, you’re that cave troll” Izuku reached over and jabbed his brother with pointy fingers. 

And this continued for the next fifteen minutes, the three of them partly watching the movie, partly taking the piss out of each other.

Izuku suddenly gasped, pointing at the screen “Woaaaaah look at that thing!! Its siiiick!!” 

Shouta slipped his hand into his pocket, pulling out his phone and tapping away at the screen “The Balrog is a powerful demonic monster from JRR-“

“Oh shit! Look, dad’s gone on the bridge to stop it!” Haruto butted in with the mild insult.

“I am 31 years old, I am NOT Gandalf the Grey.”

The two boys cackled with laughter and honestly he felt like his heart might burst. He wrapped his arms around them and gave a gentle squeeze “This is nice” he whispered.

He could see in his peripheral vision that Izuku looked up with a warm smile before snuggling back in close and turning back to the television “Yeah it is.” 

Chapter Text

Izuku sat in the front passenger seat of the car, frequently rubbing his hands on his pants to wipe away the sweat. He was sure if he looked down he’d see a wrinkled dirty mess instead of the crisply pressed pants he put on at the crack of dawn. He was nervous ok? Today wasn’t just the first day starting at a new school, neither was it simply ‘a new school’ - this was UA! The place he’d been looking forward to attending his whole life. Visiting the campus regularly in his youth did little to impact upon that feeling. He wasn’t attending as a student back then, but now, he was in the hero course. So layer upon that, the impending confrontation with one Katsuki Bakugo… yeah Izuku was a little nervous. 

He began to wonder about the other people he’d seen in the exam. Would the girl he rescued be there? And the shouty jerk in the glasses? What about that heroic girl with the vines? At least he knew Shouto and Hitoshi would be in his class, that was a relief. The two toned teen was simply walking to class from his ‘home’ on campus and assured Izuku in the group chat that he would be there early, while Hitoshi was coming with his mother around the same time as him.

“You feeling ok about today?” His dad didn’t take his eyes off the road but Izuku could see the tension he was hiding in his body. His dad and brother really were the best thing that happened to him. If he thought about it, dealing with new school kids and one arrogant dickhead who he hadn’t seen in years is nothing compared to the pillars of support he has. It was time for him to be as brave as his family believed he was.

“Yeah… I’ll be fine”

After a few moments of quiet, his dad sighed “…If you two get into it, you know I have to be impartial. I have to think and act for the good of the class as a whole… even if I want you to… I don’t know-“

Izuku interrupted, putting his hand on his fathers over the steering wheel “Its ok… I get it dad… don’t worry.”

After getting dropped at the front gate, he stood for a moment, watching his dad’s car turn a little ahead in the staff entrance. Then with a deep breath and a roll of his shoulders, he turned and began the short walk to class 1-A.

When he opened the door (with barely a stutter to his steps) he rolled his eyes at the sight before him. Katsuki Bakugou, feet on the desk, being berated by glasses jerk. 

‘Great’

The two went at it, biting cruel comments towards each other for a few moments while he stood there wondering exactly what to do. “You’re awful” chimed the bespectacled loud boy “and you really wish to become a hero?!”

Izuku groaned, concerned that he might suffer some injury if he rolled his eyes anymore. Unfortunately that garnered the attention of the quarrelling teens. 

Glasses boy marched over robotically “I’m Tenya Iida, I’m from Somei Private Academy”

He could have been telling him the secret to everlasting youth for all Izuku was listening. Instead he was staring into an intense set of red eyes. He watched with some morbid fascination as they narrowed in irritation, then some twinkling recognition began to light up. Deadly palms slammed onto the desk and if Izuku was still skittish, he would have jumped. Instead, he kept a dull gaze exactly where he wanted it to be as the boy stood and walked over. He took the time it took for the teen to walk those few steps to take in how little his former best friend had changed. When he stopped in front of him, the boy pulled out of his disgruntled slouch and raised his muscled shoulders, trying to use a one inch height advantage to loom over him.

“Bakugou” Izuku said with an even voice, looking up, green meeting red.

The blonde recoiled as if the word had been spat with acid. Izuku could have laughed if he felt the inclination to break from his stoic stance. As if he was going to call him ‘Kacchan’! As if he deserved a term of endearment! 

He could see the way the blonde was at war with clenching fists in irritation and opening them to unleash tiny explosions for intimidation purposes. “Deku… I’d recognise those eyes anywhere. Except you shouldn’t be here.” His growly voice spat the last sentence and despite knowing it was coming, what he insinuated made his stomach turn. 

‘Shouldn’t be here because I’m dead? Or shouldn’t be here because I killed my m-‘

He clenched his jaw, taking a deep breath. Izuku pulled every word of encouragement he’d been fed by all the people who believed in him to the front of his mind. He deserved to be here!

“Well thankfully, you don’t get to make that choice. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to get in my seat before the teacher arrives. I have it on good authority that he’s stern” Inside, a small part of him was giddy with how cold and collected he was being. Ah his dad would be so proud. 

By this point, everyone already in the class was silently watching the altercation. He knew Shouto was there, white and red sitting in his peripheral vision.

“Good auth- Deku you fuck!” Bakugou had exasperation painted on his face. It reminded him of the look of frustration a child displayed when their sneaky hand was slapped away from a tempting buffet. But Izuku wasn’t about to give away any details or present himself as a delicious opportunity for the brat to make himself feel more important. “What the hell happened to you? Where did you go?! I went to your damn funeral!” 

Izuku finally let the manic laugh that had been bubbling up, break free “Ah yeah I remember!” 

Then he schooled his expression… and boy if looks could kill “You acted like a real shit, didn’t even want to be there!” His voice was raising a little but he was aware that he was running out of time and it was pushing his nerves towards fraying “And as for where I was, its none of your damn business! You made it pretty clear that I didn’t deserve saving! What was the last thing you said to me?” he bought his fingers up to tap on his chin for dramatic effect “Ah that was it…’the butterfly in your hand has more value in the world than a quirkless worthless idiot’ soooo heroic Kacchan” 

The blonde frowned, his face twisting with a bitter taste. Izuku could tell he was about to explode both figuratively and literally.

But in that brief pause, by some wild or miraculous timing, the brunette from the entrance exam burst through the door, a little out of breath “Oh wow I made it on ti- OH IT’S YOU! The boy with the fire quirk!! Thank you so much for saving me! You took out that zero pointer! It was incredible!”

At that point Mr Private Academy butted in too, stepping in front of the stunned but furious blonde “Yes your actions were most valorous, you obviously understood the true nature of the exam-“

“What - you mean saving people was the real point of an entrance exam to a hero course?!” Everyone turned to the door at Hitoshi’s dry tone. The teen was standing in the doorway looking like a dream come true. Floaty hair, clean ironed uniform highlighting his chest and shoulder muscles, his disinterested face and delicious tired eyes… Izuku practically melted as the boy continued his dull toned rebuke “Wow so insightful”

He smiled all lovey-dovey at the boy, breathily swooning a “Hi Toshi”

Behind him, Shouto coughed “Simp” (something Haruto had shamelessly taught him.)

“If you’re here to chat and make friends- *sluuuuurp* -then get out” 

Everyone looked down to see his Aizawa, snuggled in his favourite sleeping bag on the floor. His dark steely eyes made contact with Izuku’s and while everyone else would have thought the guy looked mildly agitated and even a little uncaring, Izuku saw a slight mischief hidden there too. 

The students scrambled to get to their seats as fast as possible, including Izuku who purposely ignored the intense stare from the red eyes in front.

“Time is precious” Aizawa continued as he stood and stepped out of the sleeping bag “You all took far too long to quieten down. And honestly, some of your behaviours and attitudes are due for adjustment.” Once he reached the front desk, he reached down and grabbed a bag of sports uniforms “My name is Shouta Aizawa, I am your homeroom teacher and I will bring this to your attention just once. That-“ he pointed to Izuku “-is Izuku Aizawa, my son.”

“HAH?!” Bakugou barked ready to begin some torrent of bullshit no doubt

“Katsuki Bakugou” their sensei sent a quirked glare that instantly silenced the class “-if you interrupt me again, I’ll make your life hell.” Aizawa sighed, rubbing his eyes a little “As I was saying, Izuku is my son. To avoid confusion, just call me Sensei. He will probably be called Izuku by some of the staff in my presence but if you wish to call him that, it will be at his discretion and will no doubt be something you have to earn. He fought for his place in the class in the exact same way you did so do not disrespect him by thinking he got in through me. And as well as that, he will not get any special treatment, if anything, he will be graded more harshly because I and the Principle have high expectations. Finally, if he or anyone else here is bullied there will be severe consequences. And by that, I mean I’ll expel you.”

Nobody said anything, the tone that was already set had several students audibly gulping, Izuku though was quite happy about the speech.

When the class entered the locker room to change, Izuku could feel several eyes on him. Either Shouto still didn’t have a decent grasp on social situations or he honestly didn’t give a crap and was literally talking about a tv show he’d been watching with Natsuo the night before. Hitoshi was quiet but staying extremely close. He found the proximity comforting. Every time they touched it made him feel supported and it bloomed in his chest. He really did feel blessed.

“I’m curious Aizawa” Iida encroached on his space, garnering a glare from Hitoshi “Given you come from a heroic background, why didn’t you go in for the recommendation exam?” 

Izuku sighed, pulling his badly knotted tie off and unbuttoning his shirt “I didn’t want to, my brother took the entrance exam a few years ago, pretty sure the staff were betting to see who had a higher score”

“Oh got a brother now huh Deku, a whole happy fucking family right?” 

Everyone turned to the other side of the room to see the shirtless blonde scowling. Izuku took his top off, leaving just the tight quirk compatible vest on, enjoying the way Katsuki’s eyes twitched at the sight of strong but lithe muscle that he sported.

“His brother is actually my brother too” 

Any tension he felt was immediately zapped by Shouto’s ridiculous comment.

“You got some weird family dynamic or something? Is it related to having a funeral? Oh-“ the boy with the lightning strike hair waved brightly “-Denki Kaminari” 

Izuku was instantly drawn to his friendly smile. “Ah it sounds weird because Shouto is like a talking pencil sometimes-“

“I take great offence to that” the teen said with literally zero emotion in his voice “You could have picked so many cooler inanimate objects”

“And uhh its a long story-“ Izuku continued as he pulled on his top “but basically I was adopted when I was nine. Haruto lived with me and was adopted at the same time as my brother.” Across the room he could see Bakugou slowly tying his trainers, watching and listening intently like a nosy bitch, but Izuku had no intention of going into details about his incorrect death certification.

“I’m sure you remember the drama with Endeavor’s children leaving his care?” Shouto closed his locker, adding to the story “It wasn’t as well publicised but the eldest Todoroki child had left a few years earlier. That’s my older brother, who was adopted and became Izuku’s older brother. It sounds convoluted but we all get along and share a mutual hatred of my dad.”

Izuku raised a hand to give a fist bump “Damn straight”

“Wow that’s… a lot” Kaminari laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck.

Hitoshi closed his locker and started walking towards the door “C’mon. If we are out late, Sensei will literally expel us. Izuku wasn’t kidding when he said he was strict!” 

“Yeah but you get it so much worse because you’re defiling his baby boy” Shouto was outrageously deadpan as he walked off, unaware of the chaos he created. And poor Izuku was dying of embarrassment as Kaminari, a redhead and a boy with weird elbows instantly bombarded him with questions. 

“You really ought to make more of an effort to get out here fast.” His dad looked unimpressed with their tardiness, crossing his arms and tapping his foot “This is the hero course, it’s illogical to waste time with chatting. With that in mind, don’t bother asking about the opening ceremony and that drivel.” 

Somewhere in the group, a girl whined quietly but a harsh glare had most of the class straightening up.

“Today we’re testing your quirks, I want to see you choose when and how to use them. Now, Izuku, you came top in the entrance exam. Explain the ways in which you could use your quirk to throw this ball” his dad tossed him a soft ball with a tracker inside “While staying in that circle”

Izuku frowned, he knew that really, his quirk would not benefit him in this situation but in others it would be advantageous “Well, I guess I could use my wings in horse form to create a gust of wind to help propel the ball… but honestly, given the choice… I’d probably just throw it as normal.” He walked forward, rolled his arm, pulled back, gave a short two stepped run then launched it as far as he could. His dad held up the device.

‘64m’

In the crowd he could easily make out Bakugou’s unimpressed scoff so he turned back to face both his dad and the class “You said to choose when and how. Throwing a ball won’t really be improved by my quirk but unless anyone else here can fly endlessly, never needing food or drink and pulling energy from oxygen then I doubt you’d beat my long jump.”

His dad nodded (puffing his chest out just a touch, Izuku really did need to tell him to stop doing that whenever he was proud) so he went back to stand with everyone else.

“Good job. So lets all do th-“

“Hey Sensei! Gimme that ball, I want a turn. I came second in the exam so lets see how my quirk measures up” Bakugou barged his way past Iida, shoulder checking him as he went.

‘Surely dad isn’t going to put up with th-‘

“Fine, go ahead.” Aizawa tossed the ball over, keeping a calm exterior “We’ll all be taking it in turns after all”

Bakugou stepped into the circle, swinging his arms like a windmill “For reference, 67m was my middle school throw” he shot a smirk at Izuku over his shoulder before reeling back and launching the ball with an explosive throw.

“DIE!”

705.2m

“Woooo!! This is so fun, I can’t wait to try the rest!”

Hitoshi leant forward, pressing his face into Izuku’s shoulder to whisper “Foolish fool”

“Oh… fun you say? Lets see how fun it feels for the person in last place when I expel them… Plus Ultra right?”

Izuku was pretty sure at least a third of the class hated him by association. Haruto had warned him of his dad’s tactics for the first day and while it was obvious some people in the class thought it was just a scheme to motivate them, he knew better. And Hitoshi was stressing, hissing at him as they walked over to the race line.

“I don’t want them to hate me!”

“Dad said choose the right time to use your quirk!” Izuku leant in to whisper in his ear Seriously, you could choose to go last and pick the person with the highest score to do it for you using your quirk then you would literally get the highest score in the class”

“And have every single person here hate me?! Rather than just a select few?! Do you hate me?!” Hitoshi whined, stuffing his hands into his pockets

“Look if you don’t use your quirk, dad is going to kick your ass… what is a more heinous prospect to you”

The purple haired teen slipped his head back as if his neck suddenly lost all strength “Oh wow, rock-“ he lifted his left hand “allow me to introduce you to-“ he added his right hand “hard place”

Izuku shoved him back towards the scattered class members as he walked to take up his position against Bakugou and started pulling his gym shorts and shirt off.

“Aizawa! What are you doing!?” Iida barked

“I don’t want them to get burned, I have this vest and shorts to work with my quirk because I’d rather not go around flashing my junk to everyone when I turn it off”

A pink haired girl in the class wolf whistled and even though it was ridiculous he couldn’t help but blush a little. And Hitoshi looked all cute as he pursed his lips possessively. 

‘Why do we Aizawa brothers love jealous boys?’ He winked at his boyfriend who slyly grinned.

When he turned back, he immediately pushed out his quirk and took his position on the start line in his winged horse form. Looking down he could see the look of absolute astonishment on Bakugou’s face. While he enjoyed the intimidation tactic, he could tell it spelt trouble as he watched a bead of sweat roll down the blonde’s face from the proximity to the rolling heat he was putting out. It was a shame the two had such a degree of animosity towards each other (even if Bakugou’s was completely unwarranted). With his fire quirk, the blonde’s sweat based quirk would be easier to use in proximity. They could become a powerful duo. 

‘Hah as if that would happen’

“Remember your place Deku” the growly asshole spat.

‘Yeah definitely not happening’

3…2…1…

Izuku shot off with a strong gallop and a forceful flap of large wings. While Bakugou’s blasts had a boost from the increased sweat, the wind generated from the powerful beat of wings pushed the blonde off course. As he continued to dash towards the finish line he could hear enraged shouting behind him.

“Izuku 4:01 seconds… Bakugou 4:29 seconds”

Izuku withdrew his quirk and smirked at his bellicose classmate “What did you say about my place, Bakugou?”

And then he walked towards his boyfriend (who had heart-eyes) and Shouto (who was staring at his fingernails, apparently ignorant to the social tension)

“You think you’re better than ME!?” 

Izuku turned as the blonde charged forward, animosity pouring off him in turbulent waves. But before he reached his target, Aizawa’s capture weapon whipped out and snapped into place, tugging back sharply.

“Hnnhg! What the hell?!” Bakugou was still fighting against the scarf, complaining about its tensile strength and rigidity and Izuku could see that his dad had really had enough. He knew what he was doing goading the teen with that comment so he took a deep breath and got ready to face the music.

“Stop attempting to attack your classmate. And stop using your damn quirk, I’m getting dry eye!!” After a moment, their sensei loosened the scarf and put in eye drops before resuming a regular glare. He took a step towards Bakugou “You acted like you were above him and he retaliated” but then he turned so he was addressing them both “The two of you need to quit with this obsessive taunting and desire to one up each other. While rivalry may be encouraged, this” he waved casually between them “Needs to stop. Drama in the classroom is irrational, you’re here to learn to become heroes not act like petty children”

Izuku felt like he’d been kicked but he knew why his dad reacted like this. He couldn’t be seen to show favouritism and really, the two of them were disrupting class. After the shitty comment, he wanted to rub it in Bakugou’s face, he just couldn’t bite his tongue. And it felt good, so the slight lashing was worth it in the end.

From that point on, he kept clear of the explosive teen. Standing with Hitoshi and Shouto at the other end of the grouped students. 

Gradually everyone made their way through the tasks. Hitoshi had Ochako throw his ball after she threw infinity and kindly asked a multiple armed student to take his grip strength test. Izuku breathed easily when his dad commended Hitoshi for utilising his quirk at the most opportune moments. 

In all honesty, he found that the whole thing wasn’t as stressful as it could have been. If he’d have been in a situation where he didn’t have the extensive training he’d been given over the years, the day probably would have aged him 20 years. As it was, with his undefeated standing long jump and his draw with Yaoyorozu on the endurance race (the girl produced a solar powered scooter), he’d been quite successful. But he felt absolutely dreadful for the invisible girl that was currently in last place. While he knew his dad wouldn’t throw away a talented quirk like that, she didn’t and he could see her uniform quivering as she panicked.

“Oh I was lying about expelling anyone by the way. It was just a rational deception to motivate you to the appropriate level”

Izuku met his gaze, knowing full well that was utter bullshit. He expelled a few students in Haruto’s class in this exact way, but whatever. 

“That will do for today. Go read the curriculum documents and so on in the classroom” 

The tired teacher walked off, waving his hand dismissively over his shoulder as he went. Izuku felt kind of jealous, he could already feel the intense stare from Bakugou and boy oh boy did he not want to deal with that right now. He’d come in third place, one above the angry teen and he wasn’t interested in listening to the temper tantrum that would come from it so he quickly grabbed Hitoshi and Shouto, practically dragging them off to get changed again and out as fast as possible.

“Keen to get home?” The lilac haired teen queried, looping an arm around his boyfriend’s waist as they entered.

Izuku leaned into the warm touch, serenity seeping into his bones “Just keen to get away from the ‘Drama' as dad put it” he opened his locker and immediately grabbed his phone “Haruto took the day off work to be on standby, y’know just in case I needed him or something-“

“Ah that’s incredibly nice, he’s very protective of you”

He looked up at heterochromatic eyes, wondering if there was any hint of jealousy or hurt. This was Shouto’s own brother being more fiercely caring of him instead of his own blood relative. But all he saw was tender affection, the bicolour haired teen was genuinely happy for him and it was just so damn sweet that he couldn’t help springing a surprise cuddle on his sort-of-brother.

He finished tapping on his phone and changed in record time, helping Hitoshi button up his shirt “C’mon, he’ll be out front in five mins… lets go home and binge weird food combinations until we feel sick.”

“Sounds great!”

A few minutes later they ambled down the path towards the main gate. Out the front, leaning casually against Gojo’s car, Haruto looked the picture of rebellion. His spiky white hair, scars, piercings, ripped skinny black jeans and combat boots and his long black coat with the sleeves pushed up to the elbows. You’d almost expect a cigarette but the guy couldn’t stand them.

Izuku whistled then laughed at the cocky grin he got in return “Such cooooool duuuuude”

Haruto snorted a laugh “Shuddup dickhead, get in the c-“ he stopped mid word, his eyes narrowing as he looked over his shoulder.

When Izuku turned he should have guessed who was walking up the path behind him. Of course it was Katsuki fucking Bakugou, shoulders hunched, hands shoved in the pockets of trousers that were being held up by a belt, hopes and dreams.

“That the shit head?”

Hitoshi walked forward and grabbed the door, holding it open for Izuku like a gentleman “Yup”

“Can I like… I dunno, fake a sneeze and cremate him?”

Izuku put a hand on his brothers shoulder and gave him a sad smile “Not today” he then got into the front passenger seat and opened the window and tapped him on the arm “We’ll see how tomorrow goes though”

The next day, Izuku arrived to school extra early, staying in the car and going into the staff entrance so he could avoid any confrontations while he was still cranky from the rough night sleep he’d had. While the whole situation with Bakugou the day before had been a little tense, it hadn’t distressed him as much as he was expecting. The abundance of cheese, greasy food and chocolate however had caused some gastric misery… so he was a little tired and prone to snapping. 

Since he had a solid forty five minutes to spare, he curled up in his dad’s sleeping bag in the staff room while Aizawa went to a meeting. He breathed in the comforting smell of his father, snuggling down as the words of love and encouragement he'd been fed the previous night by both family members right before bed sprung to mind. His dad had rambled on about how proud he was of Izuku's bravery in facing the bully from his past, how great it was that he kept his emotions in check, allowing rational decisions in the quirk test... and even giving him a little cheeky smirk as he told Haruto about Izuku's little remark when he'd won the race against the explosive blonde. It was all like being wrapped in a warm hug so he immediately drifted off to sleep. 

After what felt like a heartbeat, a gentle rocking of his shoulder woke him up.

“Come on sunshine, time to head to class… you’ve got five minutes to bell. I’ll be right behind you ok?”

Izuku rubbed his face and nodded numbly, stumbling down the hall, into Class 1-A, bypassing everyone and barrelling straight into his boyfriend’s open arms. He kept his face burrowed in that soft neck until Iida practically had a fit thirty seconds before the bell.

The day was blissfully boring. Monotonous English, repetitive maths, bland rice. It was quite nice, especially considering what was coming.

That afternoon he sat in heroics, lips pressed into a grim line, knowing exactly who was about to-

“I AM COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!!! HAHAHA!!!”

‘Ffffffffffffffffff’

Chapter Text

(Flashback)

The blank costume design form tormented Izuku from it’s flat position on the small table in front of him. There were a thousand concepts swirling around his overactive brain. He lifted the pencil up to his lips, tapping it rhythmically against the soft plump flesh. Bringing his hand back down, he filled in the material requirements and the requests for a DNA infused plastic polymer to be used for comms.

He was so absorbed he barely noticed Hawks sitting on the other side of the kotatsu, pouring a whole tube of jelly beans into his mouth.

“Hmsm sis gnnng?”

Izuku face distorted into mild disgust as he looked up at the blonde. Rolling his eyes at his hamster cheeks, he looked back down at the paper work with a sigh. Barely a second later a heavy weight flopped over his back, the sharp chin of his brother digging into his shoulder.

“He’s repulsive isn’t he? Talking with his mouth full like that… what a gross loser” Haruto spoke softly into his ear, obviously smirking a little at the visibly offended blonde.

“I had a very unpleashhhant day tohay fank you” Takami chugged on the bottle of water in front of him, washing down the excess sugar “and I was really hoping I could seduce you and Goomy so you’d show me a good time tonight, but apparently Mr Sexy Sulk is down in Okayama until late” the blonde finished by flopping back onto the cushion, sprawling out on the floor.

“If Megumi heard you calling him that Pokemon he’d kill you y’know” Izuku responded casually as he pulled out his hair tie and shoved his fingers into his tangled locks. “Also, stop talking like that about my brother and his boyfriend in front of me”

He felt Haruto’s face lift to a broad grin “Yeah feathers, we all know you’ve got a crush on Natsuo”

Hawks sat up immediately, face flushing a delicate pink “I gotta go… see you crazy bitches at the weekend. Good luck with your costume Zu!”

Izuku gave a half hearted wave as the blonde speed walked to the stairs and bobbed out of sight. 

Haruto pulled himself up and crawled to the side, making a pillow with his folded arms so he could rest his head and stare at his little brother “What you thinking so far?”

“Uhhh like a bright teal jumpsuit, maybe a red belt to match m-“

Haruto butted in with a loud faked buzzing noise “Bzzzzt incorrect! That sounds laaaaaame. You want a massive black trench coat like mine but put really cool flames on it like a hot rod car”

Izuku laughed heartily “You’re a dumbass. That sounds tacky as hell”

“Hey d’you think mr exploding blonde douche will have like giant rocket launcher arms on his costume or something like that”

The imagery made him snort “I’ll let you know.” After a moment he sighed deeply and looked back down to the paper “When I was really little I wanted to have my costume be shiny and exciting but at the same time practical and useful while paying homage to my favourite hero… but then everything changed…”

“Still could though… just because you changed and your favourite hero changed, it doesn’t mean the thought behind it has to.”

Izuku lifted his eyes and looked at Haruto, ideas lighting up in his mind as a fond smile graced his brother’s lips.

(End of Flashback)

“Battle Training!! Who’s excited and ready to go Plus Ultra!?!” All Might pressed a button with flair and pointed to the cases extending from the wall cabinets “For today’s exercise, you’ll need these!!”

The students lit up, clamouring in pandemonium over the prospect of seeing their costumes. The blonde hero continued to babble on and in no time at all, the class was streaming out of the door in a mad rush to get to the locker room to try things on.

Izuku had once again been doing a pretty good job of ignoring Bakugou, but now, the explosive teen wasn’t even getting a passing thought. Because not only was he excited to see his own, but he couldn’t wait to see Hitoshi’s costume too. 

As he clicked the locking mechanism open and lifted the lid, he couldn’t help the smile spread on his lips. The jumpsuit was almost identical to his father’s, albeit a little tighter fitting and as a nod to the erasure hero, the neckline had a looped reel of teal fabric that laid similar to the recognisable capture scarf. He slipped into the costume, clipping on the pocketed belt that was more for aesthetics than anything, then sat down to put on the knee high combat boots that were identical to his brother’s.

A whistle sounded from his side and he turned to see Hitoshi rubbing his hands together “Damn Zu, stand up and let me take a good look at you”

He flushed red and allowed a small giggle to bubble out but he did as told, doing a little spin for his boyfriend.

“Ah you look great, I bet your dad loves it too”

Izuku smiled brightly and nodded but before he said anything, he took in Hitoshi’s costume. Black and white shoes, black jump suit with grey mesh panels and a voice modulator. It was drool-worthy “You look amazing Toshi…” he sighed, love-struck grin on his face “Capture scarf not ready?”

Hitoshi shook his head and sighed sadly “And I’m not allowed to use it until I’ve passed a proficiency test which, from looking around here-” the boy purposely eyed Bakugou’s gauntlets “-Seems a bit preposterous”

When he followed the teen’s gaze and saw the grenade shaped attachments he rolled his eyes “I’ll bet dad never saw that… anyway, come on, lets head out”

“For the hero team we have pair A, Uraraka and Aizawa vs…. Pair D, Bakugou and Iida! Go on Villains! Prep your bomb, come up with a plan, you have five minutes!!” All Might looked excited as if he hadn’t just potentially assigned a hospital stay to some students. And then as if to rub salt in the wound, he called out “And don’t forget to really adopt the villain attitude! Go all out!!”

“Fucking moron” Izuku muttered under his breath.

After some idle chatting and memorising of the building schematics with Uraraka, Izuku came up with a vague strategy “I’ll go fly around, figure out the bomb and villain location, you float your way up to the roof and I’ll meet you there so I can melt any locks then I’ll go in from the bottom…” he looked up at the imposing mass of concrete “Bakugou will come looking for me and given the nature of his quirk, it would be best to keep him away from the bomb.”

Before she could respond, a buzzer sounded out to indicate that the five minutes were up. She gave a quick nod and ran ahead while Izuku turned into the falcon and set off.

Looping around the building, he moved close to the windows, flying swift and quick so he could reduce the chance of being spotted while still being able to see through the slightly tinted glass. When he reached the top and deactivated his quirk, Uraraka was panting softly, looking a tiny bit queasy.

“Head down four floors, there’s a large room taking up almost all of the space bar a corridor on the west side. I think he’s cleared the room out to hinder your quirk.” He walked over gently turning the handle to the roof door and finding it unlocked. When he turned back he was pleased to see a look of determination on the brunettes face “I’ll in on the ground floor and run up loudly to get dumdums attention so he keeps his fight focus on me”

Uraraka giggled “Ok, I’ll look for a fire extinguisher, maybe grab a trash can or something on my way down, use it against Iida.”

Izuku nodded and took a running leap off the roof, turning into his falcon again before he hit the ground. His coordination was perfect, catching the air and gliding rapidly with his fiery hot wings spread wide. When he entered the building, he turned into his horse. While it was a little cramped in the width of the corridor, the loud clopping of his hooves when he solidified his flames echoed through the halls, no doubt having the desired effect of getting Bakugou’s attention.

As he rounded the stairs on the third floor, the blonde made an explosive charge but Izuku saw it coming. At the last second he turned into a hummingbird and flitted up out of the way meaning the teen practically collided with the wall. Quickly releasing his quirk, he took up a defensive stance against the scowling blonde.

“Think you’re pretty smart with that stupid quirk of yours huh? I’ll show you, I’m gonna enjoy messing you up just enough to evade being disqualified DEKU!”

Izuku watched as Bakugou dived forward with a predictable right hook. For a moment he wondered, as he caught it and flipped the asshole onto his back, if even without the extensive training he’d had from his father (and Brother) if he’d have still been able to counter the attack. 

As the air whooshed out of the blonde’s lungs upon impact with the concrete he grinned “God I thought for a second you might have tried something, I dunno, a little imaginative… a right hook Kacchan? Boring”

As the teen scrabbled to get off the ground, Izuku turned back into the falcon and shot off down the hall and around the corner. As soon as he was out of sight, he turned into the butterfly and melted his way through a duct covering. Remembering the schematics he’d studied albeit briefly, every floor had one of two simple designs and the current floor had smaller rooms around the end, so he made his way there.

He could hear Bakugou’s incoherent screaming, although Izuku seemed to get the gist, that the explosive teen was calling him a coward for running away.

‘Asshole. I’m strategising. You should try it some time’

When he reached the room he’d been looking for, he turned back to normal and climbed up so he was propped against the ceiling corner, above the door, using the frame to stay steady.

Uraraka’s voice came through his special quirk proof comms as a whisper “Ive not gotten down to the bomb yet but I’ve got a few things I can use for distractions or weapons. I can hear Iida just below me, he’s trying to get in contact with Bakugou. I don’t think the guy is responding.”

“Ok, I’m keeping him busy. I might try create a distraction of my own if you can let me know when you’re ready”

Another small explosion rattled the thin wooden door beneath him so he took a deep steadying breath, preparing himself for what he planned to do next.

“DEKUUUUUU!! Stop hiding like a wimp! You always were so weedy and whiney, such a useless fucking loser!” He heard Bakugou stomp into the area just on the other side of the door “So WEAK!”

With a firm but quiet voice, just enough to ignite a flame, he called out “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones Kacchan”

Predictably, the teen made a beeline for the door, exploding it to pieces before diving through and skidding to a stop exactly where Izuku wanted him “HAH?!”

It only took a fraction of a second for Izuku to drop, turning into a horse as he fell. He hadn’t even made contact with the ground before he bucked his back legs out, firmly kicking the just turned around teen in the chest with enough force to send him smashing through the window he stood in front of. A risky move being four floors up, but he knew the asshole could fly so he decided to play out exactly what his brother had suggested. The thought of back kicking the jerk through a window just wouldn’t leave his mind ever since Haruto jokingly said it. 

Immediately he turned into a falcon and began to fly away, hoping to continue the game of cat and mouse but hadn’t expected Bakugou to react as quickly as he did. He barely turned in time to watch him land after flying back through the smashed window, immediately grabbing and pulling the pin on his gauntlet.

The explosion that burst forth shook the whole building. For a moment, everything slowed down as glowing orange clouds bubbled up, rushing towards him. He had just enough time to turn his falcon from a solid mass, into pure fire. Still, the pressure of the blast sent him colliding with the concrete wall, the sheer force of it pushing any semblance of shape from his fire and instantly deactivating his quirk. Since his fire form was more malleable, he thankfully didn’t end up a crippled mess, but damn… it hurt. He slid down the wall, wincing in pain as a trickle of blood slid down his head from a cut in his hairline.

“Bet you thought you were really fucking smart there. And you said my actions as a kid were ‘heroic’, kicking someone out of a window? Now that’s a villainous move Deku” the blonde prowled closer, a feral but furious grin on his face “But then I guess its fitting, that fire quirk of yours is what killed your mom right?!”

There was a high pitched ringing that started to build in his head, he wasn’t sure if it was from the injury or his blinding rage. Slowly he pushed himself back up against the wall, clenching his fists and jaw.

“I meant what I said Deku, you shouldn’t be here… not because you’re meant to be dead” Bakugou spat the words with such vitriol but Izuku didn’t flinch, he was having too much trouble dealing with the intense pulse in his chest “I meant because you’re a villain… a killer!”

Whatever thread was holding back the energy that was expanding inside him, snapped. He felt heat surge through his body, expanding out larger than it ever had before. The walls cracked around him as he grew so large that his dark fiery wings were compressed against the ceiling. 

The look of pure shock on Bakugou’s face was an absolute treasure. He would have laughed if he wasn’t so enraged. He could feel that his mouth and eyes were glowing incandescently, the white hot fire like a blow torch was causing the air around his face to ripple with heat. Behind the blonde, he caught sight of his reflection in some broken glass. He was the Balrog… a gigantic, horned demon with leathery looking skin that morphed into deep red flame.

“What the actual fuck-“

The explosive teen barely had chance to get a sentence out before Izuku cracked the red hot whip that he was apparently holding, instantly shutting him up. Katsuki’s face seemed to stutter, moving towards panicked anger, the idiot charging forward in an attempt to out-do him, but with a quick flick (and surprising accuracy) he wrapped the fire whip around Bakugou’s arm and flung him across the room. The boy yelled out, pain from the burn and colliding with the far wall knocking out curses.

Izuku growled menacingly. It was a deep rumble, loud enough to make the windows rattle. A small part of his mind wondered if he had whatever characteristics the creature he turned into had and therefore, he’d never been able to talk before because birds can’t talk. It was a curious thought, something to dwell on later.

Bakugou was quick to get back up, jumping to his feet ready to fire off explosions again. It was a shame about his narrow minded outlook (and obvious insecurities) because the blonde was powerful and extremely talented. He had always looked up to him even as he went down a darker path, his confidence taking on a mean twist.

“I’ll crush you!” As the blonde screeched and dived forward, Izuku turned, twisting his body, knocking into Bakugou with his frighteningly large wings. Despite trying to avoid it with clever acrobatics, he was sent rolling across the floor. 

His mind flitted back to the task at hand again and while he couldn’t contact Uraraka like this, he hope’d she’d use the opportunity he was about to provide. Leaning forward, he grabbed Bakugou’s gauntlet, hoping not to burn him too much with the intense heat that radiated from his hand and yanked. Working quickly before it melted, he threaded a claw through the pin, aimed it at the window and pulled. The resulting explosion blew out the glass and the column beside it, billowing out impressively bright and loud. 

When he turned back, Bakugou was jumping up, his curled fist impacting the side of his head. The shear size of his neck and the reinforcement his solid thick demonic skin provided meant it was barely more than a love tap and he couldn’t waste the chance to turn off his quirk and laugh heartily.

While he may have appeared vulnerable in his unquirked form, all those hours with his father saying “again” when he fought Haruto on the UA training mats, made quickly subduing the opponent second nature. But he didn’t get the opportunity to tie up the screaming, frenzied teen.

“Hero Team WINS”

He looked down at Bakugou’s mortified expression “I’m not weak. I never was to be honest.” His voice was sad but he kept his grip firm “My emotional strength has carried me through more than you’ll ever know, so don’t act like you know a damn thing about me or what happened the night my mother died.”

He then pushed off and walked away, keen to escape the heavy situation.

“Aizawa and Bakugou, if you’re well enough please come up to the monitor room for your grading”

The group of four students lined up in front of the class. Uraraka a little green having thrown up multiple times at the end of the exercise. Izuku with a sluggishly bleeding wound on his head, an extremely saw shoulder and multiple bruises along one side. And Bakugou with multiple small cuts, bruises and a few burns. 

The class reviewed the villain strategy, Iida removing objects Uraraka could use with her quirk from the bomb location but then poor communication and strategy as a pair. While Izuku’s strategy and tactics at the start were impressive, the obvious grudge match with Bakugou was criticised. While his distraction tactic was applauded, it was deemed quite dangerous. The second gauntlet explosion had been extreme and could have caused severe structural damage. In the end, Uraraka was deemed the VIP. Her team work, planning with carrying things down, her improvisation when the distraction opportunity came up and her steady communication were appraised highly.

During the whole discussion both Izuku and Katsuki were silent. The blonde looked stunned beyond belief, the wide eyed daze never leaving his face as the two walked to the infirmary.

Due to potential concussions, Recovery Girl asked the two to stay for a while so she could monitor them and most importantly to not fall asleep, even after the stamina zapping kiss was given. 

So that left the two hostile boys sitting on adjacent beds. For a while, Izuku thought it would remain silent until they got to leave, thus avoiding any harrowing discussions but it didn’t end up that way. 

“I can’t believe I lost to you”

Izuku sighed “I’m not that scrawny little kid who was barely fed, neglected by his mother and beaten by Hisashi anymore Kacchan. I’m a completely different person now. Its not just my name and quirk status that changed”

He didn’t mean to leak the darker parts of his past but something in him or more, something in the tone of the other teen’s voice seemed to indicate this could be a changing point for the pair. In his peripheral vision he saw the spiky blonde hair snap to the side, wide red eyes staring intently.

“I always did hate your old man…” after a deep sigh, Bakugou continued “Y’know, the old Hag never did believe you were dead, she insisted we go to the funeral but said it was just for Auntie because they never found your body, she said inko was murdered and you’d been kidnapped by your dad because he had a fire quirk. She was livid they were just dismissing your disappearance”

Izuku took his turn to be shocked. Bakugou’s gravelly voice continued, revealing things his eight year old self had misinterpreted so wildly “I remember for so long she’d be screaming down the phone at the police, begging them for a case to be opened. That day she refused to admit it was your funeral, she was convinced you were out there somewhere… precious, kind hearted fucking Izuku” the way his voice hinted at a snarl painted every interaction they’d ever had in a different light.

What if you were constantly told your whole life you were amazing. But only because of your quirk. And that the weak quirkless kid who lived in the neighbourhood was the one with the soul of a hero. 

“Have you told her?” He whispered finally making eye contact

Bakugou tutted and looked away “No… s’not my place to tell her, besides, its not like I know what really happened. And like you said, Deku is dead right? You’re someone else now”

The way he’d worded it felt like a punch to the chest. If Bakugou could pour out his feelings, couldn’t he? He had no idea why he felt a burning need to tell him everything. Maybe there was a little four year old Izuku still clinging desperately to ‘his best friend’ inside of him. But then he remembered the words that had pushed him into turning into the Balrog and curled in on himself. He would share his past if and when he was ready. No emotional meltdown or concussion would speed that up.

“Problem child”

He turned and looked at the tired hero standing in the door. His father had an irritated expression, worry creeping into his eyes as he raked over Izuku’s body looking for more injuries.

“Heard you two went all out. I know they say plus ultra but I already warned the two of you about keeping your drama’s from throwing your potential rivalry to dangerous levels.” He took large steps to cross the room “I’ve watched the footage… with the audio that was withheld from the class monitor room. Bakugou” he glared at the blonde “You’ll attend counselling to address your anger. You will also write a letter of apology to Izuku for accusing him of killing his own mother. Which by the way would be grounds for expulsion if it was up to me”

He heard a sharp intake of breath and knew the teen was probably white as a sheet on the other bed.

“Izuku, you need more quirk training. I understand the insults pushed your new form out but you could have seriously wounded Bakugou. You already attend counselling but there are further things that need discussing in that forum so you can manage your emotions better and avoid losing control. Once Recovery Girl is done with you, come by the staff room to make your appointments and then you can go”

And with that, the man left the room, passing the old lady as she came in for final assessments.

“I can’t believe you kicked him out of a window” Haruto said, leaning forward on his elbows in front of his laptop at the kotatsu

“And I can’t believe Nezu sent you the footage from the battle trial” Izuku laughed from his flopped position on the couch.

He could hear the clicking of a mouse and the sound of the window smashing over and over again as his idiot brother rewound the footage and watched the scene repeatedly.

“Yeah well dad texted me and said you turned into a Balrog. Of course I was going to get my hands on it…. And this right here-“ he turned the laptop around so Izuku could see the screen with minimal craning of his neck “-is the icing on the cake.” On the screen, Bakugou was booted through the window, then rewound back in, then out, then in, frequently until Izuku giggled and tilted his head up to the ceiling. “And watch this… you can see the exact moment on your demonic face where you see your reflection and go ‘oh shit, I’m a fifteen foot high demon with horns, massive wings and a fucking fire whip”

Izuku barked out another laugh “Well yeah, I wasn’t expecting it”

“Neither was he.”

The next day at school he was immensely grateful for his early entrance through the staff gate by car. The press apparently had gotten wind of All Might’s teaching position and were hounding the property. His dad’s sigh was deep and long “I need to go sort this shit out and help students get in. You ok to hang out in the staff room or the class room on your own?”

“Yeah sure. I’ll take in your sleeping bag… Good luck” He stepped out of the car, walking away from his grumbling parent, making his way inside the building with the yellow sleeping bag slung over his shoulder.

Surprisingly Shouto was walking the hall at that moment, so he called to the boy and invited him for a pre-class snuggle.

“Hitoshi will break my legs if I get in a sleeping bag with you” he said calmly

Izuku laughed “No no, dad has a few, its just this one is my favourite. We can have one each!”

And so that was how Shouta found them half an hour later, with all the cushions pulled off the couches to make a floor mattress for them to curl up on. It was a relaxing start to the day, something he was thankful for when the announcement came that a class president needed to be chosen.

“Look-“ Hitoshi butted into the class ramblings, his voice dry but loud “-I don’t want this gig. Everyone that wants it, write your name on the board then everyone can vote based on those names”

“Good idea Toshi!” Kaminari piped up with a smile.

An ugly feeling rumbled through Izuku’s being, starting in his stomach and flooding up his chest, roiling violently, producing an ache he’d never felt before. The discomfort must have shown on his face as he glared daggers at the electric quirked teen.

“Given names have always been an important thing to my brother and I…” he started with a cold tone “-something that had to be earned… Tell me Kaminari, did you earn the right to call my boyfriend that name?”

A couple of ooooh’s echoed around the room and Kaminari started a screeching babbled apology that had Bakugou barking a laugh. Aizawa cleared his throat from his sleeping bag “I do wish you students would stop your irritating caterwauling and choose a class president” 

Several minutes later Iida and Yaoyorozu stood at the front of the class, ready to step up to the plate as responsible co-presidents.

During lunch, Izuku glued himself to Hitoshi’s side, still feeling both insecure and foolish. He’d never had a jealous outburst before. Hitoshi had let that side of himself spring forth on multiple occasions but Izuku had always felt so calm and friendly towards everyone (bar the bullies). But luckily, his boyfriend seemed to drink it up like his favourite coffee, smothering Izuku in kisses and affection. His low dulcet voice whispered sweet nothings in his ear at any given moment and just like in the early morning, peace washed over him…

Until the most ridiculously loud alarm went off. 

“I still can’t believe the press tried to get past the barrier” Uraraka walked with him, Hitoshi and Iida towards the gates of UA. Her friendly disposition created a buffer around Iida’s overly disciplined persona that made the two tolerable at least. They were easy to ignore as they babbled on about the day’s events. Honestly though, Izuku was just desperate to have Hitoshi all to himself. After the battle trial the day before ended in injury, his dad refused to let him go out with his boyfriend and celebrate, but tonight they would make up for it. Sushi train followed by the cinema! He couldn’t wait, but first he needed to get away from the other two students, get home and change, then bathe in the soft aura that radiated from his love.

“I think we came into the wrong cinema… seriously, I thought it would be a lot busier” Izuku looked around at the mostly empty seats with a frown “Maybe we were meant to go in the second on the right instead of the second on the left”

“Yeah sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. Someone wore skinny jeans with rips and I just can’t… do you know what you are Izuku Aizawa?”

The teen giggled, pressing a soft kiss to his boyfriend’s cheek “Ummm no?”

Hitoshi twisted in his seat and gripped his shoulders “A hot piece of ass”

He giggled again as the theatre went dark.

“We are definitely at the wrong screen Toshi” Izuku hissed in the boy’s ear

“Well its vintage night, maybe it’ll be something cool”

A considerable amount of time and far too many dwarves later, Izuku and Hitoshi were making out in the cinema. Popcorn long since abandoned, the movie ignored, it's the emotional (and somewhat erotic) connection he’d been longing for all day. While the two hadn’t really advanced their relationship beyond kissing (and a bit of over the clothes groping) there was an electricity between them as the pair forgot the very public setting they were in.

His eyes drifted towards the screen as Hitoshi slipped a hand under the fabric of his shirt, kissing languidly along his jaw “Shit Toshi” he groaned “-that feels n- oh fucking look at the size of that dragon!”

Hitoshi moved his head back to look at the screen “Cool, so much treasure… hmmm Zu” the teen went back to kissing his neck “your skin is so soft and warm but your muscles are so firm” 

Izuku gasped as Hitoshi’s thumb grazed slowly over his hardened nipple and the boy captured his opened mouth quickly in a deep kiss making him moan.

“Pretty sure this is a cinema, not a bedroom.” The torch practically blinded the two as they quickly pulled apart in embarrassment and looked up to see a very unimpressed attendant “Take your making out session somewhere private boys”

Izuku could have died of humiliation, the coolness of a giant talking dragon (and he thought he saw more hobbits?) did little to quell the absolute horror of being caught making out and having to walk out of the cinema with an erection. 

“Hitoshi Shinsou” he muttered darkly as they left the building “I can never go back there now. At least you’re wearing baggy pants! This is all your fault. First you’re all amazing and gorgeous so friendly blondes start crushing on you-“ he’s interrupted by the purple haired teen's objections but he covers his mouth and continues “Then I get all jealous and clingy, then you seduce me in the cinema, rub my nipple and make me whine like a cheap whore-“

Hitoshi burst out laughing, tackling him with a big hug “I’m sorry baby, you’re just too perfect and we never get alone time, your dad watches us like a hawk!”

The two walked home, arm in arm. Really, despite being embarrassing, the night had been a lot of fun and he really looked forward to when they could spend more alone time together in the future.

Chapter Text

“Hey Aizawa, got any ideas what this afternoon’s hero training will be?” Ashido and Kirishima vibrated as they gripped their tables, bright excitable smiles on their faces.

Izuku on the other hand was feeling reasonably relaxed. Today’s heroics class involved his dad, rather than just being another ‘All Might Special’ so he hoped it would be much more rational. No more wild outrageous battle trials for a bunch of kids who had never tested or trained in their hero suits, never fought in a quirked environment except for the entrance exam (which was against a bunch of robots and not real actual people).

“Not sure, he doesn’t really ‘Talk Shop’ as he says, outside of school. All I know is that its not just All Might, my dad- ummm Sensei will be attending the lesson too” stumbling a little over his words, Izuku looked down at the desk with a sigh. Outside of his closest friends (well boyfriend and sort of brother) and his sort of friends (Uraraka and Iida) he still was a bit shy with the class. The attention that came with being the teacher’s kid wasn’t always going to be positive. He just hoped today would be something fun for everyone.

Before anyone could speculate further, the door opened and in sauntered his dad. He looked as disinterested as usual, half his face hiding in the capture scarf he wore.

“For todays training, you will be carrying out rescue training. All Might, another teacher and myself will supervise. Be it landslides, fires or floods, today’s exercise will help you understand situational analysis and reaction-“

The students began chattering, earning a sharp and devastating glare from the Pro “I’m not finished.”

The class quietened with a gulp as Izuku withered a little, ‘jeez dad, why you have to be such a strict buttpipe’ 

Behind him, Hitoshi chuckled quietly… 

‘oh I said that out loud huh?’

“You can choose whether or not you want to wear your costumes.” With the push of the remote, the wall cabinets opened for students “We will be travelling by bus. The training centre is utilised by multiple schools and hero agencies so its booked out weeks in advance, I expect everyone to efficiently make use of the time today.” 

Ten minutes later, everyone was making their way out of the locker rooms. There was a level of anticipation that made the air feel tingly. Even Izuku was keen to get out and try new things. What about turning into a butterfly to go through small cracks and get into downed structures where other people couldn’t; then he could help trapped victims! Covering a large area to search for missing people, his falcon would be great for that!! Or the new strength that came with his Balrog form, he could move giant beams or pieces of concrete. He hadn’t turned into the hulking demon since the battle trials, he wondered idly if it would be more tiresome to use that form for long periods of time… he’d have to wait until he could do some training on the weekend.

Up ahead, his dad was waiting, rather impatiently, with another firm glare plastered on his face.

“Your dad doesn’t suffer fools gladly huh Aizawa?”

Izuku looked across at Sero with a hint of surprise, he’d heard that phrase from Mei back in middle school… And honestly, he wasn’t wrong.

“Oh you have no fucking idea” Hitoshi’s dry voice answered for him and he couldn’t help but grin slyly.

“Everyone should line up according to your seat number in class! We can board this bus in a smooth orderly manner!” Iida’s arm robotically chopped. He was obviously going hard on the class president role. He had learned over the past week to take Iida with a pinch of salt. While on the outside he was irritating, stern, obsessed with rules and order… yeah that’s just pretty much it actually. But he wasn’t a bad guy.

“Do you think he ever gets repetitive strain injury? He chops firmly but doesn’t appear to have the same martial arts experience as say Ojiro.” Shouto’s monotonous voice piped up, standing by his side as they waiting to board “Maybe his engine quirk extends to other aspects, like piston elbows.”

Izuku tilted his head up to the sky and held in a laugh with a quivering lip. “Never change” he said with a smile, slinging a casual arm around the other teen’s shoulder.

Of course, the bus was configured in such a way that all of Iida’s prattling was for nothing. So now, everyone was sitting randomly, chattering and gossiping about anything and nothing. The sound, combined with the low hum of the bus was kind of soothing and he found himself slouching onto Hitoshi’s shoulder. He wasn’t sure how long he stayed there, dazed and almost snoozing but the deep reverb of his boyfriend’s chuckle pulled him out of his rest.

“Whassit?” He mumbled, rubbing his eyes with the meaty part of his palm.

Hitoshi leaned in to whisper in his ear “Asui just said Bakugou is too deranged to be popular as a hero”

Huh? Bakugou Katsuki, the most popular kid when they went to school together, is being teased?! He pushed forward so his elbows rested on his knees and looked down the bus to see the blonde looking positively feral. 

Kaminari took that moment to join the roast. “Yeah we barely know each other and you’re about as personable as a flaming used nappy”

Wow. Absolutely fascinating. The blonde was screeching… and a little flushed from the negative attention. Oh how the tables have turned. Several class members guffawed while Bakugou screamed in retaliation and Izuku, breathed the air like it was filled with the sweetest of scents. While the two had become somewhat amiable, he still considered the other boy to be a jerk and after all his bullying, Izuku deserved this moment to soak in the rays of the boy’s humiliation, it felt like when there’s a break in the cloud that brings wonderful sun on a gloomy wintery day. Izuku melted back into his seat ‘Why am I waxing poetry today?’ Was this going to be one of those wild days? Sure felt like it. 

The class continued their relentless bullshit until Aizawa told everyone to stop giving him a headache or they would be expelled. From then on the ride was filled with people discussing their own quirks, while such a chat would normally fill Izuku with excitement, for now, he chose to just curl back onto Hitoshi’s shoulder and tune it all out again.

Everyone gathered in the entrance plaza of the USJ, listening to Thirteen explain the layout of the giant domed building.

“Where’s All Might?” Izuku murmured to himself as he stood off to the side of the crowd. “Its not like the bumbling idiot to miss the opportunity to show off or do something extravagant. And this place is flashy as heck.”

“Izuku, pay attention” his dad had snuck up alongside him, quietly reprimanding him “and apparently he has irrationally used up all his quirk time for the day”

He frowned, looking into his dad’s steely eyes. Why did it fill him with unease? He turned back to Thirteen as she continued to talk, feeling a tightening in his chest. ‘Why? Why am I feeling like this?’

Just as his dad walked to the front and began to take over from Thirteen, the hero turned sharply to look down at the central plaza. Suddenly he gripped his capture scarf with one hand, thrusting out the other towards everyone else and shouting “Thirteen! Protect the students, everyone stick together and DO NOT ENGAGE!” 

Izuku watched in terror as the swirling mass down below increased in size, pouring out-

“Those a villains!” 

Everyone instantly broke into panicked chatter but all Izuku could focus on was his dad, pulling his goggles into place, ready to leap into the fray.

“You can’t go down there! You’re at a disadvantage” Izuku mourned all his analysis and strategy training filling him with visions of horrific possibilities “Y-you can’t erase all their quirks, your fighting style-“

His dad turned and looked him in the eye, not as father to son but as teacher to student “No good hero is a one trick pony” then he raced off, bounding down the stairs, leaving a heaving Izuku in his wake.

“Izuku, c’mon” Hitoshi began to drag him back, but he was torn between wanting to watch his dad to make sure he was ok and at the same time being petrified to watch. 

A whimper escaped his lips before he could stop it, his heart aching as he turned away. The last thing he saw before he did was hero flinging two villains into each other. He grabbed Hitoshi’s shirt as the boy took him under his arm, “Toshi” he choked out, desperation flooding his eyes with tears “I need him to be ok, I can’t lose him”

His boyfriend wrapped him up in a hug, carefully pulling him towards Thirteen and the rest of the class “Don’t underestimate him, he’s both of our favourite hero for a reason Zu. He’s going to kick ass. But he’d go insane if anything happened to you and so would I” he pulled back, keeping an arm around him, steering him further towards safety.

“Come on everyone, we need to evacuate!” Iida called out, marching towards the exit.

As several others began to run towards the doors, a misty black and purple cloud spread through the air above them, billowing out to block the path “I’m afraid I can’t allow that”

The grip on Izuku’s shoulder tightened. He flitted his gaze around the class, most of them shocked, Shouto tense and irritated, Kacchan feral and bellicose.

‘Oh great’ 

“We’re the league of villains” said the almost disembodied voice “we are here for All Might, so do tell me - where is he? He was scheduled to be here. You’ll have to forgive our boldness but we are here to kill him.” 

In his peripheral, he saw Bakugou and Kirishima charge, firing out offensively to the best of their ability… and missing by the narrowest of margins. Thirteen was fast to reprimand but their actions resulted in the villain’s retaliation. The mist surrounding them closed in, swirling and enveloping everyone until Izuku couldn’t see anything but black whirls. 

As the darkness drew back, a familiar feeling of weightlessness followed that he’d experienced so many times when turning his quirk off. Looking down he saw the vast expanse of water that filled the flood zone. With a hot flash of panic, he turned into a hummingbird and fluttered quickly. As he hovered in the air, he noticed villains scattered through the water. Who else had been teleported over here? What happened to Toshi?! He zipped over to the boat in the centre and turned off his quirk, landing with a soft thud. 

Asui and Hitoshi landed beside him a minute later after climbing out of the water, loosening the grip of terror on his chest. He immediately ran over, diving onto his boyfriend “Oh my god Toshi. Toshi, toshi, my toshi” he whispered and chanted into the teen’s neck. Drips of cold water trickled onto his face as the boy kissed his temple gently with a sigh. 

When he pulled back, he turned to the other student “Are you ok Asui?”

She squeezed the water out of her hair, surprisingly calm for the situation “I’m fine, both of you, call me Tsuyu… I can’t believe they came to attack All Might. It’s a foolish idea, unless they have something up their sleeves.”

Izuku clenched his fists, walking to the side of the boat and noting that the villains in the water weren’t really doing anything. Then he looked back towards the entrance, then to the central plaza which was up ahead… where his dad was probably still fighting. 

When he returned to his friends, he had a look of steely determination “We have to fight. Thirteen and the others will be trying to establish contact with the school, who knows how many others have been scattered around the arena, they’ll all be fighting for their lives too…. I need to get to Sensei, he needs warning about their plan. They might improvising in some aspects - they would never have thrown Tsuyu to the flood zone otherwise”

Hitoshi came up behind him, breathing in with his face buried in Izuku’s hair “Or maybe they just don’t know our quirks and just sent whoever to wherever.” 

“I guess that’s probably why those chumps in the water aren’t climbing up, they don’t know what defence we could mount.” Izuku thought about what they could do next, “We need a plan” he began mumbling quietly, rubbing his chin deep in thought “maybe cause a distraction, some way to disable clusters of villains, keep them close and blow up the boat? What’s flammable? What is the distance to the edge of the lake? Asui’s tongue strength? No that would hinder…” As he walked into the ship’s interior he heard Hitoshi talking to the frog quirked girl about his muttering storms.

“Hmmm…Propane tanks, oxygen tanks… Take a flight out as a balrog with a tank? No… Hitoshi could…Ok…” he walked back to the two “I think I’ve got a plan. Tsuyu, how far can you jump? Do you think you can make it to the side over there?”

Asui looked at the gap “Unless I have to carry Hitoshi, then I’m not sure if we’d make it.”

“Its ok, I can use my fire whip to attach to Hitoshi’s arm, his costume is fireproof and it’s wet so that’ll help insulate from the heat. It’ll only be for a second anyway. But…” he looked at his boyfriend “uhh Toshi, you’re not going to like this… I need you to get the attention of a few villains in the centre, if you can trap as many as possible with your quirk then get them to attack each other, then get a few more and have them try round up the stragglers, try hustle them all near the boat. Meanwhile, I’ll start a fire around the propane and oxygen tanks below deck. Then during the distraction we make a break for the edge of the lake.”

Asui nodded in agreement while Hitoshi sighed “Tonight, when we’re all warm and cosy, drinking Haruto’s hot chocolate, you will absolutely need to coddle me and caress my pounding head got it?”

Izuku smiled warmly and gave his love a quick kiss on the cheek before he went down stairs to start the fire “Absolutely. Let's do this guys!”

A few minutes later the three sat in the shallow water around the edge of the plaza, the ruins of the boat behind them. 

The explosion had been deafening (and so fucking cool) but he was currently wallowing in guilt. In the attempt to pull Hitoshi off the boat quickly and onto the shore, he’d overestimated his strength and pulled the teen’s shoulder out of its socket. While it immediately went back in, his boyfriend was in obvious pain. And it devastated Izuku, he couldn’t help but crowd up close, whispering apologies and tales of remorse.

“Come on Kero, lets move around the side so we can see how Sensei is” 

The two agreed, drifting through the water away from the heavy bush area, with just the top halves of their heads poking out of the water. 

When they arrived at the clearing, Izuku struggled to bite down a gasp as he came face to face with his dad’s ongoing fight. He was currently engaging with a lithe man with pale blue hair and strange hands adorning his arms and face ‘Maybe has some kind of touch based quirk, dad should be ok if he keeps using his quirk, although by now his eyes must be getting dr-‘

The stream of analytical thoughts came to a sudden halt as the man grabbed hold of his father’s elbow. The material of his hero suit seemed to instantly disintegrate and the revealed skin beneath began to crack and break away like a dry river bed. Nausea rose up from his stomach. Despite quickly countering with a swift left hook and moving some distance from the man, Izuku could see the horrific damage. 

He couldn’t move, his eyes were fixed on his dad as dread built up and thickened in his throat.

“We need to get out of here” Asui whispered close to his ear “we need to see if Thirteen can come help him while the others get out from the front ribbit.”

Despite her proximity and Hitoshi’s iron grip on his arm, he was one hundred percent focused on the battle in front of him as the hero went back to battling the obvious small time villains.

He noticed that the handy guy was watching him closely too “You’re so cool, but I’m not the main boss battle, that role belongs to my fully regenerative Nomu”

Izuku’s vision darkened as instant unease and panic surged with what he saw. It was almost like slow motion as the bird beaked monster grabbed his dad’s arm, broke it like a twig and smashed his face into the floor. Fear driven adrenalin flooded his system and in that instant, Izuku snapped. 

“GET OFF HIM!!!” He lunged forward out of the water, his quirk spreading out like the shockwave from a bomb “I WON’T LET YOU TAKE HIM FROM ME!!!”

Apart from being around 100ft long, he could speak…. Or at least growl words. Well that was new.

It was barely a passing thought as he soared through the air with the Nomu locked inside his enormous jaws. With each breath he took, flaming heat scorched the monster to a husk. Some part of him should have been worried about killing whatever this Nomu thing was but the hand guy did say something about regeneration. And quite frankly, Izuku was to enraged to care. It wreathed and screeched in his grip but he paid it little mind as he flew in a gigantic circle, high above the central plaza. Beneath the rushing roar of flame and the wailing from the monster, he could just about make out the fitful screams of the hand guy.

‘Petulant asshole’ 

Izuku flitted his eyes around, constantly watching for more threats. Desperately trying to figure out what to do next. He saw Tsuyu tending to his father on the ground. He looked badly wounded, but he was still awake, sitting up and lifting his gaze to watch him fly. 

The hazy portal villain then reappeared, whatever he said had Tsuyu and Hitoshi turning to look at the front entrance. A large swirling portal opened in front of him with barely enough time to dodge. He ducked down below it, knowing full well that at his size he wouldn’t be able to avoid it for long. He needed to get this Nomu out of the arena, away from the brat trying to give commands. So he tightened his circuit, spinning in a corkscrew. With a passing glance he noticed Hitoshi concentrating on the portal villain, a vacant white glaze over its usually yellow glowing eyes. He’d beam with pride if he could, but for now he pushed hard, flying as fast as he could, gaining momentum with every spin before flicking his head, opening his jaw and unleashing a fiery belch. It sent the Nomu blasting out of one of the domed windows at high speed. It probably didn’t land too far away but it was enough to keep it out of sight. 

When he turned his attention back down to the plaza he saw the hand villain stalking Hitoshi and a deafening growl punched out from his chest “He’s MINE!” 

The hand villain flinched back and as Izuku began his descent, a certain blonde made his appearance. “Hah, you’re giving my quirk a pretty decent boost there Deku…” Katsuki exploded on to the plaza, knocking down the portal villain and landing with deadly palms pressed to the metal neck braces. “Don’t you move” Bakugou sneered “or I’ll blast you to smithereens!”

Todoroki and Kirishima joined him. Shouto running over to help tend to Sensei while the redhead took a defensive stance beside Katsuki “Oh that’s not very hero like Bakugou… and Izuku, you’re insane!”

When he dropped down, remaining in his newly acquired dragon form because he too furious to change back, he found that he had to loop his body around the entire plaza, because he was too damn big. The problem was, this meant he was slightly cooking everyone inside.

The hand villain looked furious behind his hand mask. He continued his rant about non-playable characters before he turned and looked at his downed comrade “Kurogiri, we need to leave… I’ve had enough of this level” he reached out a hand towards Izuku. Not knowing that he could turn off the solidity of his quirk meant the damn fool just ended up shoving his hand into super hot fire. 

When he yelped and dived back, decaying a nearby tree and screaming about cheating, the mist villain used the distraction to push free, warping Bakugou and Kirishima into the lake behind them and immediately teleporting the still screaming hand villain out of sight. 

Izuku panted ‘Is that it? Is it over now?’

A loud bang had everyone jumping and turning towards the front of the USJ.

“FEAR NOT!!” All Might, burst through the doors “FOR I AM HERE!!”

Chapter Text

The moment he heard Izuku’s voice, he felt a pure unbridled fear like he’d never experienced before. Well, maybe that’s wrong, he remembered the incredible terror that wracked his body when he searched for Shirokumo. But this was different, while he loved Oboro, Izuku was his son. He was suddenly transported back to the moment where he quietly followed Haruto into that makeshift bedroom. He remembered that cold, condemned warehouse and the gentle little boy that was shaking, huddled up in a cluster of blankets. Izuku had come so far in the years that followed, he had such a bright shimmering future. And now it was about to be cruelly snatched away.

“I WON’T LET YOU TAKE HIM FROM ME!!!”

Shouta started to wonder as he lifted his head from the floor if the concrete impact had given him concussion. That had to be why he saw the most enormous dragon he’d ever seen. Surely. Izuku had never been a dragon and definitely not one that could talk. It barely even sounded like his voice, it was like 3 different pitches at once, each more growly and terrifying than anything he’d heard before. Definitely concussion.

“Sensei” 

Asui began tying a straight stick to his broken arm, apologising as he groaned from the pain.

He took a shallow wet breath in, pulling his knees up so he could shift to a sitting position, swaying a little as he did. “Can you tell me… is-“ 

“Yes. Aizawa is a gigantic dragon. He’s got that monster in his mouth. The guy that attacked your elbow is thrashing and pacing, screaming to try get it’s attention.”

Despite the blood trickling down his face, he was able to tilt his head up and finally get a better look at his son. The sight made him suck in a breath. 

The dragon, in all its flaming glory was easily 100ft long. About fifty percent of it’s length was the tail that flicked as he flew, dangerous spikes poking out in straight angles. The gracefully flapping wings, looked leathery, with dangerous claws that opened and closed in frustration. The head was gnarly, glittering golden eyes, sharp pointed teeth and multiple sized horns and spikes. Everything about him, even without the billowing flame from his mouth or rippling heatwave coming from his skin, screamed danger. Interestingly, the combination of natural light streaming in through the domed windows and the glaring artificial globes lit up a long section of what looked like glittering emeralds across his underside. 

He was astonishing.

“Master Tomura” A shadowy looking villain approached the tantrumming brat that corroded his elbow “Unfortunately one of the students managed to escape. He will be gathering reinforcements. Perhaps it would be prudent to cut our losses” 

Beside him, Asui and Hitoshi looked back to the entrance “Maybe the other heroes will come, maybe All Might?”

‘Hmmm even in his weakened state, All Might would push past his limits. He should be here soon, hopefully they just quit and l-’

“NO!!!” Diaper baby literally stomped his foot, scratching at his neck “I WANT MY NOMU!! TELEPORT THAT CHEATING DRAGON TO THE FLOODED AREA!!!”

Shouta stomach dropped, he was trying not to grimace or frown because his face was a bit of a mess but he was grateful to see Izuku dipping below the portal.

“How many of those can you open at a time? And does it leave you vulnerable?” 

Shouta looked over to see Shinsou sprouting out from behind a bush near the misty villain, shouting his questions… ‘Clever’

“That’s n-“ The villain froze in place, eerie yellow eyes turning pale and empty.

“Close your portals” the teen said softly. 

Shouta kept his eye on the other villain, concern growing as the hand baby cocked his head to the side in curiosity.

Above them, Izuku was flying in a tight loop, gaining momentum. With every hard flap of his enormous wings, the dirt and debris on the ground swirled in warm spirals. It was fascinating to watch as the long neck tilted up, then with a roaring fiery belch, spat the nomu out of the domed roof. 

A quiet but irritated murmur came from his left, the hand villain, (Tomura?) looking back down from the dramatic view and setting his gaze on the purple haired teen, who was still locking the warp villain in place. Hitoshi was in danger, Shouta's voice croaked as he tried getting his attention apparently he wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. 

A monstrous growl echoed through the arena, rattling the bones in his chest. When he looked up, Izuku looked feral… more feral anyway.

“HE’S MINE!”

‘Oh of course, possessive… way to turn into a dragon inside and out’

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Bakugou diving onto the plaza, knocking down the portal villain, holding his heated hands against the metal neck braces. The explosive teen was ranting about something but his focus was solely on Izuku as he curled around, flooding the area with intense smouldering heat. He could see the dragon’s chest inflating in short bursts… Izuku was livid. He surmised that his son probably couldn’t change back consciously because his emotions were too flared.

“Kurogiri, we need to leave” Tomura rasped “I’ve had enough of this level”

The villain started reaching out towards Izuku’s leathery looking skin. Even though it was sheathed in flame, the idiot probably thought he could do damage like he did to his elbow. Shouta shook in pain as he opened his eyes wider and activated his quirk but just as his hair floated up, Izuku’s solidity dispersed, leaving only dancing flame in the shape of a dragon. The heat suddenly grew hotter and everyone instinctively flinched away. It was too late for Tomura, who screamed, wrenching his arm back as his skin instantly blistered.

Shouta sighed in relief, glad that his son was paying enough attention to protect himself despite everything that was going on. A sudden shout and a splash had him turning but the damn injuries he’d sustained were making him so slow. He just managed to see the two remaining villains disappear in a cloudy black and purple portal.

While he was disappointed that they’d gotten away, he just wanted his class to get out of this nightmare. God knows how many were in trouble, scattered around the USJ-

***BANG***

“FEAR NOT… FOR I AM HERE!”

‘Ughhh fucking finally…’

Izuku turned solid again, circling closer, glaring at the number one hero as the man landed with a jump on the plaza. When All Might frowned, possibly not recognising Izuku, another deafening growl resonated from the dragon “You…. You should have been here!” The voice was deep and animalistic, barely a hint of Izuku’s normal voice coming through “My dad is hurt!”

With a sigh he asked Asui to help him stand “Izuku… its ok, calm down. The villains did this, not All Might”

“Huh?! Aizawa shonen?!” All Might gasped, neck almost snapping as he looked from Shouta and back to the dragon again.

He ignored the buffoon walking closer to his son despite the heat pouring out in waves “Izuku?”

“Why does he have green jewels on his stomach?” Everyone turned (including the dragon’s large head) to Shouto who had a look of confusion on his face. If he was perfectly honest, it was something he wondered about himself. It rang a bell, some movie maybe?

Hitoshi laughed as Izuku lifted up, trying to crane his neck to look down “Its Smaug from one of the hobbit movies. The dragon sleeps on a pile of coins or something, so all his stomach is covered in gold, I can’t remember… I wasn’t really paying attention… and Izuku is lil broccoli so of course he’d have emeralds instead”

“Wh… why- I can’t- stupid neck-“ the voice, combined with most ridiculous sight he’d ever seen had him and several others chuckling. This gigantic dragon, teetering backwards on his hind legs, tail so close to the water that it was steaming, had his head tucked down trying to look at his own stomach.

“He looks like when dogs try to dance on their back legs” Shouto said in his usual nonplussed voice “Hey so is this from the cinema the other night when you guys got kicked out for-“

“DAAA-Bababa nononono” Hitoshi literally ran, waving his arms at the other teen, breaking into a nervous laugh. 

And Shouto, the socially unaware fool just carried on, blissfully unaware of the drama “You should watch one of the Tinkerbell movies the first time you have sex-“

Beside him, dragon Izuku stopped wriggling around and froze, jaw dropped, even recoiling back a little in horror - probably because the boy was so casually discussing his future sex life, not only in front of his classmates and the number one hero… and his dad. 

Hitoshi was making a high pitched noise like a kettle and Shouto fucking Todoroki just kept talking!! “I’m not sure if he’d end up with a female body, y’know with the curves and the little dress… or if he’d look like Izuku but still with the little dress-“

At this point, Dragon Izuku flung himself, barely missing everyone with his whipping tail, right into the lake. When he surfaced with his quirk deactivated, green haired head poking out of the water “Just let me drown ok?”

“Wait for me!!” Hitoshi shouted running to the water. 

‘Nope’ Shouta’s arms were only slightly wrecked he reasoned, so with barely a wince, he managed to wrap his capture scarf around the purple haired teen and rasp “No, you’re staying at least 15m away from my son from now on thank you very much”

About five to ten minutes later, the rest of the teacher heroes arrived on the scene, rounding up the remaining villains and making sure the students were all safe. Even though his legs were relatively unharmed, Shouta was happy to accept the stretcher that arrived with the ambulance. 

As the trolley was carried up the stairs, Izuku remained glued to his side, holding his shoulder very gently. Despite all the tomfoolery at the end, his son had once again endured a trauma. It broke his heart to look up and see the teen looking so solemn.

“I’ll be fine you know” his voice was broken and rough, not exactly useful for the point he was trying to make.

Izuku sniffed harshly, obviously fighting back tears as they walked out of the USJ, pushing towards the ambulance. After a moment, his voice came out with a wobble “Yeah… I know. It’s just…. I wish I could have gotten to you sooner, or at least stopped you from getting hurt.”

He sighed, telling at the paramedics that Izuku would join him in the back. “Izuku… my son… you saved me today, just remember that ok? You might wish you could have done more but don’t ever forget… you’re my hero.”

The teen let out a wet laugh as he burst into tears, leaning forward and gently pressing his face into his father’s chest “I guess we are each other’s heroes then.”

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Epilogues

The sun filtered in between the blinds, casting strips of light on Shouta’s face when he woke up. It was the morning after the USJ attack and he was still in hospital. The previous afternoon after arriving, the doctors discussed that varying levels of healing quirks would be used over the next couple of days to help him recover from his injuries. He could only imagine how much worse they would have been if his son hadn’t recklessly thrown himself into the battle.

Before he could press the call button, a nurse walked in and embarrassingly, his heart rate monitor began to speed up.

“Good morning Mr Aizawa, I’m your nurse, Koharu Saito. How are you feeling today?” She grabbed the polystyrene cup and straw on his side table, lifting it to his mouth to sip, which he did gratefully.

“I’m a little disorientated, I only just woke up”

The nurse chuckled, grabbing his clipboard from the end of the bed “Ah I’ve been told you’re a frequent napper. Well I hope you got some r-“

Shouta didn’t realise he’d been staring at her so intensely until she looked back and locked eyes with him. The two not blinking or moving for a moment, surprisingly without any awkwardness, until her face lit with a soft smile. She had beautiful, chocolate coloured skin with the occasional white vitiligo spots on her jaw, neck and forearms. Her hair was a light blue colour, loosely pulled back into a long but simple braid and her eyes… they were prettier than any sunset he’d ever seen.

The machine started beeping again and Shouta was convinced he’d be willing to break his arm all over again just to have the satisfaction of smashing it to pieces with his bare hands. 

“Interesting quirk you have. I can see why it would be very handy in heroics” she said, ignoring the beeping (‘thank fuck’) and placing the medical chart back on the end of the bed.

“Uhh yes, hopefully my face being smashed into concrete won’t cause too many problems with it.” Shouta grumbled, purposely keeping his eyes on the blanket over his legs “I have a horrible feeling that this year is just going to be one disaster after another.”

“Well I’m sure you’ll go above and beyond to help, you’re a very brave hero-”

‘Breathe calmly, keep calm’

“A lot of people wanted me to go into heroics when I was a kid” she continued as she walked to the trolley and grabbed a new saline bag “my quirk is called chameleon” she held her arm over the waffle printed blanket so Shouta could watch as it disappeared, then she pulled back and started taking down the empty drip bag “I just wanted to be a nurse. There are plenty of people out there with that heroic drive, like yourself… but I want to be the one helping people after the villain attacks.” 

She sighed, placing the new drip bag up and connecting it to the drip line, turning back to the cart again “Plus, in my early teens, my vitiligo flared up, making my quirk less effective… so heroics really wasn’t the logical choice”

‘Be still my beating heart’

Shouta couldn’t help but stare dreamily at the woman as she went about connecting the blood pressure machine but the beautiful peace in the moment was disturbed as his two sons entered the room… instantly screeching to a halt as they took in his expression.

‘Oh fuck’

“Ohhhhhh I see…” Haruto says with a smirk

He sets a fierce glare at the boys who grin at each other, moving further into the room. Ms Saito chuckles quietly and pushes the cart back against the wall “I’ll be back with some breakfast for you Mr Aizawa”

“Please, Miss umm nurse lady, I’m sure he’d be happy for you to just call him Shouta” Izuku chimes in like the absolute shit bag that he is.

With another soft laugh she left the room and the boys didn’t wait a second to pounce, Izuku folding his arms “Don’t you glare at me Dad, you had this coming, remember we-“ he flicked his arms between him and Haruto “-said we would terrorise you for all the shit-

“Language”

“-That you’ve given us. Haruto and Megumi, getting people to follow them on dates remember? Sending me up to my room so you could threaten Hitoshi… we remember!” Izuku looked mighty proud of himself after his little speech and he was ready to remind the boy about their horribly embarrassing cinema experience that Shouto had called them out on but Haruto piped up.

“And I remember how you gave us this-“ his white haired son held up hands to add quote marks “‘oh as if that’s going to happen, I’m going to be sad and alone forever, my cold heart will never find love’ look and yet here he is Izuku, shamelessly pining after the kind nurse”

“I wasn’t pining” he grumbled like a teenager, staring out of the window with a pout

The two boys burst out laughing, still theatrically wiping each other’s tears as Ms Saito walked back in with a tray “Now I hope you young men aren’t upsetting your very brave and heroic father”

‘Ughhh I’m never going to live this down’

“I’m gonna text Megumi, you text Zash and Nem in the group chat” Haruto said quietly, pulling his phone out of his back pocket.

“Do you have any doctors with quirks that can like… just knock you out for a few days-“ Shouta looked at Izuku practically vibrating with excitement “-weeks?”

An hour later Hizashi burst through the door, not an ounce of care that he was in a hospital. Unfortunately the beautiful nurse was currently in the room to deliver some antibiotics now that he’d eaten.

“AND WHO IS-“

She turned with a harsh glare and shit, could he already be in love? Is this what its like when you meet your soulmate?!

Izuku and Haruto were sat on chairs at the other side of the room, quietly but obviously nearly pissing themselves with laughter.

“Eeeep! Sorry” Hizashi loudly whispered “Uhm as I was saying, who is this wonderful nurse lady you have tending to you?”

“Go away, visiting hours are over” he huffed

“They’re obviously not, Izu and Ruto are right there!!” He pointed dramatically

“They’re leaving too”

Ms Saito seemed to be holding in a laugh too. While the others provoked a slightly fond irritation, she was like an angel, making that damn heart rate monitor beep again. 

.

.

.

“Have you got everything set up” Haruto whispered

“Yes. I have volunteers waiting in reserves ready too.” Izuku whispered back

Shouta narrowed his eyes, standing on the outside balcony, listening through the door. Ever since he’d gotten a text back from Koharu at midday - which was accidentally seen by Hizashi - he’d been stressing that word had reached his son’s about his impending date.

‘Shit… they’re plotting’

“Just don’t involve Shouto, he’s an idiot”

“Nah haha, I’ve told all the class though and everyone is working together to spy and get the goods”

Shouta pulled his phone out of his pocket and texted Koharu that he was going to pick her up half an hour early and had a new venue in mind. Then he pulled open the balcony doors and sent a quirked glare at his two son’s who stood frozen in the kitchen “If you want a war, I’ll give you a war”

Six hours later, Shouta got out of the car with a smile lifting his rosy cheeks. He stopped before he grabbed the door handle and lifted his hand to run his fingertips over tingling lips. He swore they were still warmer, still tasted of his new girlfriend. With a soft chuckle, he opened the door and stopped in his tracks, seeing Izuku and Haruto with Cheshire Cat grins on their faces and phones in their hands.

‘Fuck’  

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.

Izuku slowly led the way up the stairs, occasionally turning and making sure Eri was ok. The two were close, her eyes lighting up when she saw him, ever since the internship that led to her rescue a few weeks ago. He didn’t even want to think about how he came to adding more forms to his fire quirk but it was something he could overlook as his son bloomed in confidence like the brightest flower. 

“Let me show you to your bedroom, you know they were thinking about adding dorms at UA but luckily they didn’t, so you can live at home with me and dad… Here we go, its right next door to mine, it used to be my big brother Haruto’s” The little princess was quiet but tiny smiles let them know everything would be alright “He’s coming around later, I’m going to get him to make us his famous hot chocolate”

She tapped her fingertips together “Hot chocolate?”

Izuku almost squealed “Oh Eri, you’re in for a treat!!”

.

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.

Haruto and Megumi were hiding something, the two were acting strange. Even Koharu noticed. He and his favourite nurse started dating a couple of weeks after meeting and now over two years later, she had been living with him, Izuku and Eri for about six months. So for her to easily pick up on it, her pretty eyes narrowing in suspicion and staring between the two… something was definitely afoot.

“So uhm I’m really glad everyone is here together” Haruto said with a nervous smile, glancing around the table. 

Shouta looked to the opposite side and glared at Gojo with his stupid fucking blindfold ‘Why did that ass clown have to come’

“-We actually have something to announce”

Shouta froze. To be honest, every Todoroki at the table, Izuku and Hitoshi, Koharu, Gojo… everyone froze.

“Haruto has agreed to do me the honour of being my husband” Megumi said with a surprising amount of emotion in his voice. 

Haruto sat forward, leaning on his elbows with a manic smile “We’re getting married!!!!!”

‘Married…. My son…. Is getting married….’ His gaze flitted to Megumi ‘and HE didn’t ask for my permission’

“Ahhhh that’s so amazing!!” Gojo clapped excitedly with his stupid dumb face “Gotta say though Meg, did you ask Mr Aizawa for his son’s hand? ‘Cos tut tut if you didn’t”

‘Fuck you’ “Hah! I’m not like that, of course they didn’t have to ask.” Under the table Koharu gripped his knee “I know how these boys feel about each other, I was at the goddamn summer training camp when it all started. I know Megumi has my son’s best interest at heart, its perfectly logical for them to want to get married”

Gojo leant forward, lifting his blindfold and flashing a blindingly bright blue eye at him “Sure”

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“I can’t honestly believe this day has come… that first year was… well-“ Hizashi rubbed the back of his neck.

Shouta nodded in understanding, adjusting his suit and looking out into the seated crowd. His Fiancé Koharu sat with Haruto to her right and Eri to her left. There was just something so emotional about it, after everything all of them had been through over the years “My little boy is graduating. I’m-“ his voice went thick so he breathed in and out a couple of times to calm down before continuing “I’m so proud of him… This was Izuku’s dream but very quickly, it became mine too.”

Hizashi for all his noise, knew exactly when to shut up and simply laid an arm over his shoulder, giving him a light squeeze. After a minute or two, he whispered “come on, let's get this show on the road.”

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The front door opened with a crash, loud chattering floating up the stairs. With a deep sigh, he unwrapped his arms from his heavily pregnant wife and ambled into the kitchen to get the kettle boiled. The source of the noise rounded the top of the stairs with a laugh bursting from his lips.

“Mei said to him ‘A stitch in time saves nine’ and Kacchan just looked at her-“ he cackled “He didn’t even say anything, just straight stared at her- Hi mum” Izuku leant down over the couch and gave Koharu a kiss on the cheek before making his way into the kitchen to search for food. “Hey Dad” Izuku gave him a quick hug, the boy might be out of his teens and well established in his chosen career but he said he’d never be too old for dad hugs.

“He’s just come back from a mission with Kiri and Kami, course his brain cells are going to be a bit dull, Hi Mr Aizawa, Mrs Aizawa” Hitoshi’s tone always went polite when he addressed Shouta’s wife. He supposed he could forgive him for taking his son’s innocence… maybe. Plus he'd asked Shouta just two days ago if he could have his blessing to propose to Izuku. Hitoshi told him he was booking a fancy hotel, taking his son to a huge international hero convention (with disguises so they could blend in to the crowds) then he was going to take him out for the most romantic dinner in the world. So yeah, he didn't mind the guy.

The two twenty year old’s slumped down at the kotatsu, Izuku laying out a plate of Taiyaki. Before he could complain about the two boys making themselves at home (despite having moved out almost immediately after graduation, two years ago), the front door crashed open again, this time, the twinkling bell like sound of a child’s giggle drifted to his ears.

“Where’s grandad!”

Shouta’s face almost split in half with the smile as he got down on his knees. Thudding footsteps ran up the stairs, a shock of pale pink hair running over and diving into his open arms “Yuji, how’s my best boy?”

Haruto who followed behind huffed as he bent down to give his son a little kiss on the top of his head “Be careful with the old man ok?”

Shouta looked over the little four year old boy’s shoulder with a glare “Rude… I am only 35… the fact that I’m called Grandad-“

The boy pulls back to look him in the eyes “Its great right, you love when me call you Grandad?”

“Absolutely… now come sit on the recliner with me. If I’m sooo oooold, then your dad and uncle Izuku can make all the snacks right while we watch tv or nap?”

“YEAH!!!” The energetic boy pumped a fist in the air and ran over to the recliner, dragging Shouta behind him, stopping briefly to gently give Koharu's belly a cuddle and kiss “And don’t forget to make snacks for Papa! Papa is at the car getting my bag!! Where’s Eri?”

Shouta collapsed into the recliner, laying it out flat and pulling the boy onto his lap “She’ll be here soon, she’s just on her way back from school”

He picked up the remote, smiling again as the little boy patted his cheek lovingly. Apparently he was still fascinated by his stubble so while his wife wasn’t a fan, he always kept a slight gruff look - honestly he’d do anything for the little boy that his eldest son had adopted a year ago. 

Clicking on the TV, a nature show flickered onto the screen.

“Oooh!!” Yuji clenched his little fists “I like foretts!!”

“Forests”

“Yeah! Trees!!”

The narrator spoke delicately as the screen was filled with sweeping views from drone footage “Pyrophytes are species of plants and trees that have adapted to fire. It can be simply gaining a level of resistance to heat, or encouraging fire to wipe out neighbouring invasive species by producing flammable oily residues, others actually require fire for seed germination, going on to become grand trees that grow to lofty heights.”

“Trees that grow in fire!!! That’s cool! Uncle Zuku can you turn into a tree?!”

Shouta soaked in the silly conversation, his house sounded so busy, but in a pleasant way, the chattering voices and laughter filling the air. 

He was smiling a lot these days, he thought as he laid back and closed his eyes, one arm still looped around his grandchild. Although really, he’d been smiling for a few years, ever since he’d found two young boys and given them a loving home.